Checkmate
by cookiesruletheworld
Summary: Starfire has been sneaking out at night to secretly meet her lover. How does this effect the rest of the tower, particularly Robin?
1. Late night out

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teen titans**

Starfire stirred in her sleep.  
The ring of her communicator awakened her. She took one glance at it before sleepily turning in off.  
Reluctantly, she pulled off her soft warm sheets. The cool of the night air wrapped itself mercilessly around her attractive body.  
It was dark out, and she had to stick out her hands, searching for a pair of shoes. She stumbled as her feet caught on something, and she fell.

Found them.

She smashed her hand over her mouth, as soft as her pink, fluffy, carpet was, if still hurt when she fell. She didn't move for a second, waiting to hear footsteps approaching. Had anyone heard her fall? She thought she heard Robin turn over in the room next door. But nothing else happened.  
She threw on the flip flops she fell over, and blindly stumbled over to her window. Grunting quietly with the weight of the window she opened it, winching as it squeaked slightly, and, trying not to make a sound, slipped out of her window ,leaving it open for her return.  
As she flew over the darkened town, cool night air washing over her, she admired the lights of houses, whose people were still awake at this late hour, glittering below.  
She remembers the first time she snuck out, she was so nervous that the titans would find her, but now it was almost natural. She had practically lost count of her late night adventures.

The night was relatively warm, and humid. The summer's night was calm and peaceful as the cricket's chirped merrily.  
Starfire imagined that they were singing to her, cheerfully chirping a lullaby.  
She had always liked crickets despite that fact that they were insects...

oOflashbackOo **(A/N Summer before the one Starfire is currently in)****  
**"Aaaahhhh!" Starfire screamed, her throat hurt a little from it, she could yell loudly when she wanted to.  
Immediately she heard Robin coming. She loved how he was always ready to help her, no matter what. She could always count on him.  
He burst into her room, ready to fight to the death for her. He looked around. Starfire stood atop her bed, clutching the sheets up to her chin in fear, (covering her skimpy, faded, floral printed, night gown which was topped with a very small light pink velvet bow at the collar along with some small white lace. Much of her legs showed and Robin tried not to stare) a look of utter horror on her face. "T-There" she stuttered, pointing a shaking finger the floor beneath the window. "I went to close my window, and found that monster there!" she whimpered.  
Robin cautiously approached the window and bent down to the floor.  
There was a very small cricket.  
"Aw, Star," he said, trying not to laugh "It's just a cricket," Robin bent and scooped up the little cricket into his green gloves. It chirped, frightened.  
He moved toward Starfire to show her. She squealed and shied away.  
"It's okay," Said Robin.  
Starfire immediately trusted him and leaned over to see the tiny bug.  
Robin smiled; he loved how Starfire trusted him without question. He thought trust was important in a relationship. Not that he planed of having any relationships anytime soon.  
It chirped musically, and Starfire giggled. She stuck out her pointer finger (which had fingernails painted a soft light pink) and gently stroked the little cricket.  
It chirped happily and took a small leap into her hands. Her eyes sparkled with happiness. She walked down to the door on the bottom floor with out a word. Robin followed. She opened the door and set the little cricket down. It hopped away chirping once more. "Good bye!" Starfire called, waving.  
She turned to Robin "He is going home." She stated as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Like anybody would have rescued the nasty bug instead of squishing it.

Robin smiled. Starfire was so cute. He admired her kindness.

There was silence, Robin and Starfire stared at each other smiling. Robin cupped her chin in his hand before they were rudely interrupted:  
"Hey Star did you -" Beast boy walked in, and seeing the scene, felt his face flush, and robin immediately let go of Starfire's chin. "oh, um, bye!" he ran out the way he came. The door shut behind him, there was a short pause filled with silence before it creaked open, one of his green eyes showing, watching to see what would happen. Like Starfire and Robin couldn't see him clearly.

oOend flashbackOo

Starfire wiped a tear form her face. She reminded herself (once again) that Robin changed and he was no longer like that anymore.  
She spotted the beach and smoothly landed, on top of the largest sand dune.  
A dark figure was lying there, on his back hands behind his head, watching the sky.  
"You're late," he said.  
"I know, sorry," she said, crawling up to him and laying her head next to his, ignoring the sand that suck to her hands and knees.  
He turned his head toward hers slightly and softly and lovingly laid his lips on hers. A tingly feeling spread through Starfire to the tips of her toes. They watched the sky together. He held her close to his side, (as though he might lose her) as they watched the stars twinkle. They did chit chat for a while but mostly there was silence, they were just enjoying each other's company.  
She did eventually have to leave her lover's side. With a soft kiss and an "I'll be back, tomorrow,"  
"Can't wait already," said the dark figure, hating to see her go.  
As she hovered outside her open window, she carefully brushed the sand off of her, before entering.  
She crept back into her room, and slid under the now cold sheets, and back to sleep from her night out.

**Dun, dun, dun!**

**Please, Review! I don't know how good this story is. **


	2. NExt Day

**Disclamer: I do not own teen titans**

Beastboy entered the room. Everyone, except Starfire and Robin, was already there. He leisurely stretched out, still standing in the doorway, before walking to the counter and asking cheerfully,

"Hey, I'm starving, what's for breakfast?"

"Do you mean lunch," asked Raven monotone as usual, hardly looking form her newest, back, leather-bound book, which she had started to read not to long ago.

Beastboy looked around the room, eyes roaming from Cyborg, sitting on the couch, trying to get a new high score, to Raven, also on the couch, though sitting as far away from Cyborg as possible, and trying to read through his shouts, whoops, and moans.

"Where's Starfire?" he asked. Usually, she was the first one up, greeting everyone happily as they walked in. Latly she ha developed a taste for sleeping in, sometimes later then Beast boy, who always slept in latest.

Sometimes, if she was in a good enough mood, she would persuade Robin (who was a very good cook when he wanted to be) to make breakfast for everyone, even something with tofu. Though, had hadn't in a while.

"She's still sleeping," Said Raven. Beastboy wondered how Raven could talk and still keep her eyes glued intently to her page.

"Still sleeping?" he asked, disappointed, "you mean, I have to cook my own breakfast?"

This caused Cyborg to snigger. A huge explosion appeared on screen as Cyborg crashed the blue car he had been racing.

"Awww," he moaned. He turned around in his seat to face Beastboy. "This is all _your _fault."

"It is not! And it's not like you were actually going to win, you were loosing so bad," chuckled Beast boy, laughing at Cyborg's awful playing skills,

"Oh, like you could do better!"

"Dude, I could beat you any day!"

"Is that a challenge?"

"You bet!"

Beast boy flung himself towards the couch, hastily picking up the extra console. Raven raised an eyebrow, "I thought you were hungry,"

Beast boy snorted "I don't want to cook!"

"So, basically," said Raven, Snapping her book shut, irritated, (after carefully marking her page), "you're hungry, but you aren't going to eat because you're too lazy to cook for yourself,"

"Uh, yeah," said Beast boy distractedly, thumbs feverishly pushing buttons.

Raven sighed, "I'll be in my room," she said, trying to get away from Cyborg and Beast boy.

Starfire's eyelids fluttered open. Her head pounded. The light attacked her eyes like sharp daggers. She groaned and put her hand over her eyes, trying to restore the blessed darkness. She lay there for a moment, under her pink sheet, simply dreading getting up, before actually doing it. She slowly got dressed, taking her good time, and headed towards the entertainment **(A/N I don't know, what ever it's called)** room. She passed Raven on the way, who was walking briskly, and carrying her latest book. She looked annoyed which either meant that Cyborg and Best boy were fighting about tofu again, or that they were playing video games. Starfire thought that it must be the latter, because if they were fighting, she would have sorted it out, instead of leaving

She knew she was correct upon entering. Beast boy was dancing around; holding the console above head, and Cyborg looked as if he had been struck dumb. Amazed that he could ever have lost.

Beast boy finally spotted Starfire and bounded forward. "Hey Star, can you get robin to make us some lunch or something? I'm starving!" his eyes glinted as he lanced toward Cyborg "Winning always makes me hungry," he said in an exaggeratedly loud voice. Cyborg muttered unhappily.

Starfire's face, however, hardened. "Robin is working, is he not?"

"Well, yeah," began Beast boy "But –"

Starfire cut him off "then I assume he will not want to be bothered" she said coldly.

Best boy however, missed this bitterness towards Robin. "Ok, then let's go out for pizza!" He and Cyborg immediately leaped into the T-car, honking the horn impatiently for the rest of the team. Raven and robin walked out, annoyed.

"C'mon dudes!" said Beast boy "let's go," Raven didn't say anything but into the car. But Robin refused.

"C'mon," pleaded Cyborg, "you know you want to!" Robin walked back into the tower.

They started off without him.

Beast boy smirked "Don't crash, like you did in the game," he said.

Cyborg muttered something that they couldn't hear.

**Sorry for abrupt ending. If I don't get more reveiws, I'll probably just delete this. Seeing as I only got ONE! sob (many thanks to Ladywildcat)**

**so REVEIW!!**


	3. Chocolate and nightmares

**Disclaimer: I do not own teen titans. **

Dusk. Everyone's favorite time between night and day, where the possibilities are endless, the time where everyone just hangs around, doing whatever they want. Weather this was meditating, working straight through to the night, making a sandwich, watching TV, or sitting on the roof, planning on how to sneak out.

Starfire sat on the roof, watching the white clouds turn to soft wispy shades of purples or pinks and swirl around the dulling orange sun. She was worrying. She did that a lot these days. Worried that the other titans would find out what she was doing, worried about how they would react, anger, probably. She worried if they would even go as far as to kick her of the team. Then where would she go? She could not keep this a secret forever.

Small strands of her hair fell across her face, blown by a soft wind. The sky slowly darkened, she could even see some dull stars appearing in the sky. Her bottom was starting to ache from the tiles of the roof. Stretching, she got up. The tower was empty, except for raven, who was still meditating. Though see assumed that Robin was still up, working, as usual, but she went to go see just the same. She didn't want to sneak out and find him still up.

She cautiously poked her head through his door. The blue-green light from the computer screen flickered. Robin didn't look up.

"Robin," she said,

"What" he answered shortly

"It is late. Perhaps you should – "

"I have work to do,"

"But maybe, it would be better if you sleep, then continue to work in the morning, after a bountiful rest."

Robin did not answer.

Starfire sighed and removed her head from the door.

She entered the kitchen and opened the cabinet. She didn't know why she was doing this. If she made Robin hot chocolate, she would be late to meet 'him'. Why was she doing this? She poured the boiling water into the mug. She tore open the packet of powdered chocolate, added it to the water, and started to stir. She remembered the first time she did this. She had observed Beast boy doing it, and wanted to try it for herself . The powder got all over the counter. Then Robin had entered and helped her clean up and –

Starfire squeezed her eyes shut, trying to erase the memory. She stirred the mixture ferociously, slopping some over the sides.

She entered Robin's office (as the rest of the team now called it seeing as he worked there all the time, and nobody else ever used it) breathing in the delicious chocolaty goodness. He did not look at her until she was right next to him. He glanced at the tan chipped mug.

"Hot Chocolate?" he asked one masked eyebrow rose, as if hot chocolate was not good enough for him. Starfire gave a little shrug.

"I thought you might be a little tired of coffee,"

He didn't say anything, just turned to face the screen once more. She set down the mug. She did not understand why Robin constantly worked so often. Why was constantly looking for a loophole in Slade's death? Why could accept the blessing that Slade was dead? Why did he have to file so many criminal reports? He was only a teenage boy. Why should he have to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders? She left, shaking her head as she left. She once thought that she knew Robin, but now she understood that she did not know that half of it.

Robin glanced at the mug. He noticed that she added some extra marshmallows of her own to the chocolate. She knew that he loved marshmallows. Why was she constantly looking out for him? Could she not accept the fact that they could never be together? Of course Robin had always loved her. Ever since she had first landed on the planet and kissed him. Even if it was only because she need to learn the language. He remembered months afterward, still pouring over it, daydreaming about it.

But, Villains, monsters, criminals, they would always be there. Robin had to be there too. To protect the world, to bring justice. That's what superheroes did. Being with Starfire would be a distraction, a weakness. He was taught to ignore distractions. He was taught to not have weaknesses. He heard Batman's voice in his head

"_You're a hero, Robin, You cannot have distractions. You must focus!" Robin was bent over double on his knees, facing the tan gritty dirt, sweating. It was the hottest day of the summer. "Then maybe I don't want to be a hero!" He sputtered through clenched teeth. He grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground in his hand, and squeezed. His fingers made deep trenches in the sandy dirt. "Of course _you_ do, Robin. When you wake up in the middle of the night, from another nightmare-" Robin made a sputtering noise. How did Batman know? Then again, he always knew everything. Batman laughed "Yes, I know of your nightmares," he continued "When you wake from them, you are more determined then ever to be a hero. More motivated then before. But first you have to learn this correctly, remember, when you go to leap. . ." _

Starfire had no idea of the nightmares he had. They were coming more often. He had thought, once, for a short while, that he was free of them, but now they returned almost nightly. Nightmares Of her, of his parents, of batman. When he woke up in the middle of the night,

Cold.

Sweaty.

Yelling.

Tears leaking out from under his mask.

Darkness pressing in on all sides, to suffocate him, and silence so loud his eardrums might explode.

She had no idea.

**Okay, I know not a whole lot happened in this chapter, but I like how it came out. I promise that bigger things will start happening soon, in like, two chapters. So please don't stop reading!!! Don't stop reviewing either! You reviewers are awesome!!! And if you haven't reviewed, what's wrong with you?!? Review already! **

**(Thanks for reading this far!)**


	4. escape

**Disclaimer: I do not own teen titans**

After her talk with Robin, Starfire became slightly angry. Thus, she became careless and reckless. Usually, she would wait; making sure everyone was asleep before slowly and carefully creeping out. But tonight, after the door to her room swooshed closed behind her, she quickly crossed the room to the window and pushed it angrily upward. It squeaked slightly but uncharacteristically, she ignored it.

Beast boy had his covers thrown over him, as usual. He tried to fall asleep, but he reallty wasn't tired. Footsteps went by his room. They were quick. Probably Raven's. He thought. She probably finished meditating. He sniffed. Raven was right; his room really did smell bad. Maybe he should throw away those pizza boxes. And candy wrappers. And the stale half eaten sandwich that he mad two weeks ago. Or he could buy a air freshener. He wondered if air fresheners came in 'baking doughnuts' smell. He groaned and turned over. Doughnuts. Great. Now he was hungry. That sandwich he made earlier obviously hadn't been big enough if he was hungry a few hours earlier. Maybe he should get some more food . . .  
he was dwelling on this thought, when, he heard a squeak. EW! Was his room so messy that he had rats?? Or maybe it was just the floorboards creaking. He was always picking up very small noises. He supposed it was because he was always changing into different animals and sometimes he could still hear very well. About that doughnut . . .

Starfire landed somewhat sloppily next to the dark figure. Sand got all over her.  
"What," asked the figure, "Regular clothes? I liked the nightgown. . ." he pouted.  
Even though it was dark, he saw the glitter on her cheek. He reached up and wiped it off her beautiful face. He wore black leather gloves. He reached his other hand, around her small form, to her lower back. He pulled her down the ground next to him, so that her head rested on his chest. He stroked her hair. For a while they just sat there, resting, while Starfire cried, and he softly stroked her hair.  
After a while he said "What's all this? What happened?"  
Starfire rested her more comfortably on his chest.  
she sniffed and wiped her eyes. "Nothing,"  
he rubbed her back, "You know you're not good at lying,"  
Starfire, laughed against his chest. "He just bothers me," she could feel him stiffen. "I thought. . ." he said carefully "You were over him."  
"Don't worry," she said "I'm yours, but it's hard. I want to be his friend. It's hard when were on the same team and all."  
He kissed the top of her head, "Forget him, don't let him ruin tonight for us."  
There was silence for a while. Then Starfire started to point out the constellations.  
"See that?" she was saying, "That's the North Star, which is part of the handle of the Big Dipper, and. . ."  
He wasn't really listening. He was just holding her close, breathing in her heavenly scent.

"And that bright star, that's a part of Orion's belt . . ." He could see the constellation at all. But he didn't tell her. He hated to disappoint her. You really needed imagination; all he saw was a bunch of tiny dots. Starfire's hand waved in odd positions all over the sky. Now she was pointing out the star 'serious'.

He just loved the fact that she was his. All his. And no one, not even Robin the 'boy wonder' could take that away. Ever.

_Thanks to all my reveiwers! Keep reading, I promise I will reveal the 'dark figure's ' idenity soon!_


	5. Card games!

**Disclaimer: I do not own teen titans.**

Beast boy woke up. He stretched, and then yawned. He glanced at the clock. It read: 12:53. His stomach rumbled. He was starving. He was about to get a doughnut last night but, he had started to wonder what kind of doughnut to get, and then he started to debate which was better: icing, or glazed. Then, he fallen asleep, doughnut-less.

He started to walk to the door. He could really use some breakfast. He stopped, and looked around his room. He said he would clean it up, at least a little. He bent down and picked up one of two old pizza boxes. Holding his nose with one hand, he dropped it in the over flowing trash can in the corner. He decided that that was enough for one day. He walked out the door, ready for a good breakfast.

As he strolled lazily through the hall, he fantasized about what he would eat. He was just passing Starfire's room when he suddenly stopped. Maybe he would eat some good breakfast today, if he persuaded Star to persuade Robin. He bet he could do that. He guessed she was still sleeping, since she usually was these days. But, he didn't want to wake her up, so, he poked his head inside to see if she was awake. He thought that, if she was, he could simply close the door, unnoticed.

Starfire was in the middle of entering her room through the window. Last night, she had been so tired, that she had fallen asleep in his arms, woken up, and flew as fast as she could back to the tower. Her heart was pounding extremely fast and loud from the flying and the worry. Had someone already discovered her? She had a huge crick in her neck, form her odd sleeping position, but she ignored it. When she got to the window, she was relived to see that no one was looking for her. She sighed in relief, and began to pull herself in. One leg was still out of her window, when she heard the door creek open. Beast boy's head came in. He didn't seem to register that she was standing at her window, with one leg still sticking out of it.

"Hey Star," he began, "can you –"

He stared at her, with one raised eyebrow "what are you doing?"

"Uh," she began. Her mind was working furiously to come up with a useable excuse. Her eyes searched around the room, as if an excuse would pop up out of her (unmade) bed for her to use.

Her face started to feel hot. Suddenly the room was too small.

"Uhhh, I was just, uh, testing to see how warm it is outside." She said shakily, and trying to smile. Her heart was pounding.

Starfire yanked her leg in and closed the window with a squeak and a dull _thunk. _

She wasn't sure if Beat boy would buy the excuse or not.

After a while, in which Beast boy was apparently thinking deeply, face screwed up in concentration, his hunger won over, and his mind switched from Starfire's strange way of testing the weather, back to his breakfast. Though, even he wasn't sure if he believed her.

"Uh, ok, Star, but listen, can you-"

"Yes, friend, that sounds wonderful, I shall see you shortly, good bye!" She said quickly before pushing his head out of her room and shutting the door in his surprised face.

Resting her back against the door, she slid the rest way down it, letting out a breath she didn't know she held. She ran her fingers agitatedly through her red hair.

For how much longer could she hide this from her friends? Not long, she thought, After all, she couldn't do this forever, could she? Beat boy must be getting suspicious. After a while she got up and ventured into the bathroom in her room. She was going to take a long shower. Sand that had washed off her body and hair had clogged her shower drain more then once in the past, and she was getting tired of unclogging it. Luckily, no one had yet noticed the sand that lay scattered on her pink carpet. She kept meaning to vacuum . . .

Beat boy withdrew his head, scratching it, confused. Testing the weather? Yeah, right. Maybe he could get Raven to figure out what was going on with her. He heard the shower turn on as he walked back down the hall.

Beast boy fidgeted in his seat in the kitchen. Robin was working (what else is new) and Raven was sitting on the couch reading. Cyborg had taken his pride and joy (the T-Car) and driven away to some auto shop for new parts, or more car wax, or something. Starfire was probably still in her room.

He had had to get his own breakfast, _again._ Well, if you can call three doughnuts from the dark coffee shop around the corner, the one that Raven usually visited, breakfast.

Beast boy opened his mouth. He was going to ask Raven to go find out what Starfire was up too. Suggest that she go buddy up to her or something. But that isn't what came out of his mouth. Instead, the words "Raven, do you wanna play cards?" were forcing their way out of his mouth before he could slap his hand over it.

She slowly lowered her leather bound book. Though she had only started it a few days ago, she was almost finished.

"What?" She asked in regular monotone.

"Uh, do you, uh, you know, wanna play cards? Like with, Starfire? And Robin? If he can be persuaded to come out of his room and into light."

For a moment, he was certain that she would decline, and go back to her book. She didn't answer. Beast boy's ears dropped.

"Okay,"

Beast boy (and his ears) perked right up. His eyes grew wide,

"Really?" He asked in amazement, hardly daring to believe it, incase she was being sarcastic, as she was so often was.

She smiled a rare smile (though it was a very small one, it still did wonders for her in Beast boy's opinion), "Yes, now go get Starfire and Robin, if he'll come, I'll get the cards,"

Starfire approached Robin's office. Beast boy had just been to see her to ask her to partake in the game of cards. He told her to get Robin. She despised this task and doubted very highly that he could persuaded to be separated from his work. Not wanting to prolong her visit, she didn't bother with knocking, yet stuck her head right in. Before Robin snapped his head onto her, she had a glance of him absent mindedly staring hard out of a window, as though it was talking to him. His head had rested on his hand, and he looked rather bored. A few feeble rays of sunshine was shining though it.

The window he had been staring out had been the window that Cyborg had installed behind Robin's back. He insisted over and over that he needed to have _some _light, even if he refused to go outside. But Robin had refused, Cyborg installed in anyway. At first Robin had been furious. He yelled a lot, even though it had been a very small window, hardly letting in any light. Raven had to go and tell him to shut up and calm down.

"What is it Star?" he asked.

"Friends Beastboy, Raven, and I are partaking in the game of cards." She said very quickly "Do you wish to-"

"I'm busy," he turned his back to her.

"Yeah," muttered Starfire softly under her breath, "What else is new," She withdrew his head.

"What did yo say-"

He turned around to face the door again, but Starfire had already left. He sighed to the empty room.

"Darn! I-I mean, good. . ." Said Beast boy, he had just picked up a card, apparently not the one he wanted. He hadn't exactly mastered his poker face. Starfire giggled. Besides being a little tired, (yet she always was these days) she was in a pretty good mood. After they played 'Old Maid' (Raven won) they started to play Go fish. So far, Beast boy was loosing and Starfire and Raven were tied.

Pretty soon Cyborg came back laden down with plastic bags that had 'Bob's auto shop' printed all over them. He immediately asked to join them. So he waited until Starfire won at go fish, then they all started a game of BS.

Played for a while, and Starfire found it hard to concentrate because she was so tired. She had been sneaking out more and more lately.

She was saved when, in the middle of another car game, Beast boy threw his cards angrily into the air and started yelling that Cyborg cheated. As the cards red and black fluttered through the air like leaves on a fall day, Cyborg yelled back that he did _not_ cheat and that Beast boy was just awful at cards and that's why he hadn't won a game yet.

Raven rolled her eyes. She could tell this was going to go on for a while. She put her head in her hand. Starfire managed to slip away through the door without anyone noticing.

**I thought that I made this chapter longer. How was it? I want to say 'thanks' to all of my wonderful reviewers. Please review to this chapter!! Please!! Keep reading, I promise that I will identify the 'dark figure' soon! (But not next chapter) Again, thanks to all my reviewers, you guys are the best!!!! **


	6. After the game of cards

**disclaimer: I do not own teen titans**

After managing to slip out of the game of cards when Beast boy and Cyborg started to fight, she flung herself gratefully into her room. It wasn't that she didn't have a good time playing, she did, but she was just tired. Turning her head slightly to glace at the green glowing numbers, she saw that it was only 6:45.

Not quite yet late enough to leave. But, she _was_ tired. And her sheets were so soft. She turned her head so that her nose was pressed flat against the bed. She breathed in the scent of her sheets. EW, it really didn't smell that good. She hadn't washed them in a while. Being, tired all the time made her lazy. She hadn't changed her sheets in a while. And crawling into them all sandy, straight from the beach hadn't exactly helped.

She turned her head again, so she didn't have to breathe in the scent. She should get up and wash them, but she was tired. She closed her eyes. Without meaning to, she dropped straight off to sleep.

After listening for a while to Cyborg and Beast boy shout their heads off at each other, Raven wondered where Starfire ran off to. She had noticed when she walked out the door and she didn't blame her. Who wants to listen to people scream? She figured finding out where Starfire went to would be more fun then sitting here. So she got up, and left, not bothering to cover her movements. First place she would check was with Robin. She was often trying to coax him out of his room.

She quickly knocked on the door, only once before entering. She didn't really care if she interrupted his 'work'. How many times can you file a crime report or check the tower's security system? She shut the door behind her, encasing the room in (almost) darkness.

"Raven, I'm working," he said not bothering to even turn to face her. So how he knew it was Raven is beyond me.

"Hello to you to, Robin," she said dryly, as her pale hands reached up to put up her hood.

He grunted, showing that he had (at least) heard her.

"Look, did you see Starfire come in here?"

"Uh, I haven't seen her since she asked me to play cards,"

Raven nodded, not that Robin saw her. She left.

Next logical place to check was her room. This time she did knock. She waited for a while, but nobody answered. She poked her head in. There was Starfire, fast asleep. She closed the door. Starfire had been tired a lot lately. Whenever she walked into a room, Raven would catch scent of her tired emotions and become tired herself. She hoped that falling asleep early would make her not tired anymore.

She didn't want to wake Starfire up just to ask her what was going on, so instead she decided to go meditate.

Robin was hungry. He had skipped lunch. For a while he had tried to ignore the pain, but the constant rumbling kept reminding him. Usually, if he missed dinner at the tower, Starfire was there with a heated up leftovers for him. On occasion she even made something herself. If that was the case, Robin waited until she left, and then fed whatever it was to Silkie who was always glad to – Robin mentally kicked himself.

He kept forgetting that he wasn't allowed to think of her anymore.

After a quick dinner that Robin had recovered from the fridge, he headed to bed. 'Working all the time must have made him tired, because unusually for him, he fell asleep immediately. Let the nightmares begin. . .

MEANWHILE!

Starfire woke with a jolt. Everything was dark; she must have dozed off. She checked the clock. 12:58. She was no longer tired, so with great energy she got up and prepared to leave. . .

**Hello! Thanks for reading! Sorry, I know it's short. And Sorry I haven't named my reviews yet. Anyway, Please Review and make me happy!**


	7. red handed

Robin's black sheets were tangled up with his legs. He wore red flannel drawstring pajama pants, (without a shirt) that were covered in cold sweat. He grunted and turned over. He hadn't stayed still all night. He was having another nightmare . . .

_Today was a good day. Robin sat in his seat, in the front row. He pushed his thumb and forefinger together. They were sticky, due to the big, fluffy, sky blue, cloud of cotton candy in his little hand. _

_Excitement was coursing through his tiny body. No matter how many times he saw the circus, it was still an amazing show. He popped another piece of cotton candy into his mouth. The first time he had eaten cotton candy was with his father. He remembered being so surprised when it had disappeared inside his mouth. _

_He heard the announcer call out,_

"_And now, ladies and gentlemen, the hilarious act of Bouncy and Happy, the two little clowns!"_

_Robin watched the two clowns in bright costumes bound into the ring. He knew that their real names were Joan and Tom. They were a lovely and nice couple. They had worked for the circus for ten long years. Longer then Robin had even been alive. They loved the circus, it was their lives. They loved to make people laugh, that's why they were the clowns. The ringmaster had even been the one to marry them, after a year of working together. His parents and they were good friends. Before the show, Robin had helped them get into their costumes, and put on their make up. They were always very nice to him. _

Starfire touched down slightly messily on to the sand. Her messy landing caused sand to spray everywhere. The 'dark figure' hurriedly sat up from his leisurely position of staring at the star strewn sky to rub some out of his stinging eyes.

"I'm sorry," she apologized to him, walking over and helping him brush some sand off of his face.

He moved his hand to the back of her head and brought her in for a kiss.

"I forgive you. Guess what,"

"What," she asked. She sat down, and wrapped her hands around her knees.

"There's a carnival in town, do ya wanna go?"

She smiled. "You bet."

**(A/N Uh, I know last chapter I said that it was like 2 in the morning, and carnivals aren't open that time, but just, you know, go with it. Please.)**

The lights of the carnival winked merrily at the arriving couple.

It wasn't very dark, because there were plenty of lights strung up all along almost every ride. They blinked on and off in every pattern you can imagine.

They walked, hand in hand, through the carnival. It was practically empty save for the small group of loud teenagers here, or the occasional couple there.

After they brought tickets at the ticket both, ('his' treat) they headed off to the slowly rotating Ferris wheel. 'He' knew that it was her favorite ride at the carnival. The employee, who was unlucky enough to get the night shift at the carnival, took the dull colored orange tickets 'he' handed her.

She had three eyebrow pricings, and a nose ring. She also had a large tattoo of a rose entwined with thorns on her upper right arm. The thorns were chocking the rose and for some reason it made Starfire sad.

She glared at Starfire like she had interrupted her in the middle of doing something very important. Though, she seemed to take quite in interest in 'him' as she looked him up and down.

At the top of the giant lit up wheel, Starfire felt a little pang of guilt. She remembered the time Robin had brought her onto a Ferris wheel for the first time. 'He' slung his arm casually around her, hugging her close. Without a second thought, she snuggled into his warm chest, feeling very happy. All thought of Robin were wiped from her mind.

_Robin laughed and kicked his little legs. Joan and Tom had just finished their clown finally. The whole crowd was roaring. He was happy and excited. He knew that the next act was his very own parents. Sure enough the ringmaster began to call into his microphone,_

"_Prepare yourself, ladies and gentlemen for the show of a lifetime. These acrobats are trained professionals, and I shouldn't have to remind you not to try this at home. Now, put your hands together for the best flying trapeze act you will ever see!"_

_The crowd, excitement pulsing through it, clapped loudly. If you were to shout as loud as you could, to the person sitting next to you, they would not have heard you. _

_The audience gasped and clapped and roared. Robin felt very proud of his parents as they zipped, cart wheeled, and flew through the air. They reminded him of birds._

"Yes!" 'He' exclaimed. 'He' had finally managed to toss the little rings and get three out of five of them to land around the necks of carefully polished bottles. Never mind that it was his third try.

Starfire giggled. Another late shift employee handed him a white teddy bear with a thin pink ribbon around his neck tied into a lavish bow. 'He' handed it to Starfire, who smiled, blushed, and hugged its soft fur as she thanked 'him'.

The employee, far from being annoyed smiled and leaned his head on his elbows, staring at Starfire.

"Hey," he said, "Do you know you're very pretty?"

Starfire giggled as 'he' scowled, took hold of her elbow and steered her away, muttering something about employees not being allowed to talk to customers.

After going on every single ride, the small carnival had to offer, they made their way back to the beach, walking slowly and chit chatting.

MEANWHILE

Robin was not the only person not sleeping. Beast boy tossed and turned. At one point, he grabbed his game boy of his cluttered desk to distract himself, hoping to play till he got tired. But, the batteries ran died.

When he pulled his battered green sheets off of himself, he was too cold. Yet, when he pulled them off, he was too hot.

He sat up and looked around the dark room. It was still messy. He picked up a single sock, and tossed it towards his overflowing hamper. It missed and fell just to the right of it. He didn't really feel like doing laundry anyway. Instead, he walked toward his trashcan. He stuffed the trash deep down inside the can, and pulled up the sides of the bag, tying in it a strained knot.

He picked it up, with a slight grunt at it's weight (there was a lot of trash in there) and opened his door. He was going to take out his trash.

After that exciting chore, he wondered where Starfire was. She couldn't be asleep, if she was sleeping in later then he was. She had to be awake. Maybe she was awake in her room. Maybe he could convince her to have an extremely late game of 'Mega Monkeys 5' with him.

He walked of in the direction of her room.

Starfire knew she had to leave soon. It was really late. She handed the teddy bear back to 'him'.

He stared at it quizzically.

"Uh,"

"I am sorry, but I cannot keep this. How would I explain the sudden appearance of it if my friends were to see it? I was at the tower all day yesterday. Everybody know when I go to the mall,"

"Oh," he looked slightly disappointed, but she knew he understood "Yeah,"

She smiled at him.

He took out medium sized green velvet box. He opened it. Inside was a dazzling necklace. On the chain hung a small butterfly spun out of delicate looking sliver and peals. It was absolutely breathtaking.

"You can take this, though, right?" he asked anxiously.

She knew that it would be unwise, but how could she be as rude as to decline? It was so beautiful, and it looked expensive.

Of coarse the titans would notice it if she wore it. So, she would only wear it when she met with him, or when she was alone.

She nodded, and he smiled.

Beast boy looked around Starfire's room. She was gone. Her fluffy pink room was completely empty, apart from Silkie, who lay curled up at the very foot of her bed, fast asleep. There was only one clue, the window. It was wide open and the long drapes were fluttering and rustling softly in the breeze like ghosts.

_Everyone in the crowd must have heard the rope beginning to snap, because everyone in the tent seemed to scream. Robin watched in horror as it broke completely. _

"_Mom, dad!" he squeaked. He couldn't even yell properly. No body heard him admits the noise. All he could to watch as –_

**Thump, thump, thump, thump.**

Robin sat up and cursed. He wiped his sweaty brow.

**Thump, thump, thump, thump.**

"Who is it?" he called. Someone was knocking on his door.

"Beast boy," called a voice, "You have to come quick.

Robin groaned, grabbed a t –shirt and threw it on. He also grabbed his mask, and made sure it was firmly in place. Before answering his door . . .

Starfire fingered the necklace around her neck. She had had a glorious night. She was sorry that she would not be able to wear he gift as often as she would have liked (which was always) and she was not able to keep her bear, but it had been a very good day. Rather – night.

She hummed tunelessly as she crawled into her room but suddenly stopped as she heard a voice speak. It was Robin's. And it was cold and angry.

'Hello, Starfire."

She squealed, and looked up. The entire team was assembled there, in full uniform, and looking extremely upset, confused and angry. Especially Robin.

"Have a nice time?"

**Dun, dun, dun! Okay, thank you for reading. I think that was one of my longer chapters. So review. Next Chapter I think I will tell you the dark figure's identity. And if it's not next chapter, it's the one after that. Promise. Anyway, thanks to those of you who have reviewed. You rock my socks. And. . .review. Please. **


	8. FlAsHbAcK!

_Starfire stood at the doorway to Robin's 'office' for lack of a better word. She still wasn't crazy about this idea. In fact, she wouldn't be doing it at all if Raven had not insisted and comforted her over and over _again, quite out of her usual morbid character.

_She stared at the doorknob like it was threatening her life. Her palms were sweaty, and it had absolutely nothing to with the hot mug of coffee in her hands, from which steam was rising and swirling eerily. _

_She breathed in and out deeply. While behind her, Raven stood and rolled her eyes. Her Galfore on Tameran told her to breathe deeply when ever she was scared, upset, or even nervous. She took his advice very seriously. _

_After a few breaths, she bit her lip, and wiped her hot palms on her bright purple skirt. _

_She looked behind her, at Raven, who nodded encouragingly. _

_So, she swallowed hard, and grasped the doorknob, (ignoring the life threats it whispered at her) turned, and entered.  
As soon as it the door opened even slightly, Robin spun around, alert. _

"_Hey, Star" he said, with a huge smile on his face, his face lighting up immediately and the slightest hint of blush on his cheeks, although, this went unnoticed to Starfire. _

"_Greetings, friend,"_

_There was silence, until it was broken by a very courageous Starfire._

"_I have brought you some 'coffee'" she said rather lamely. _

"_Yeah, uh, thanks," _

_More silence. _

_Starfire put down the mug next to Robin. She couldn't have held it much longer anyway because her hand was shaking so badly from fright. Usually, Tamerainans weren't afraid of anything, they were a very tough race. _

_Starfire hadn't been so scared since there had been a rampaging heard of Galorphropes on Tameran. Blackfire had convinced her to sneak past the big 'No Trespassing' sign with the red block letters, written in four different languages, and through the barbed wire fence into their grazing field, back when they were both very young. Needless to say, she was almost trampled. _

"_I have something to tell you, friend Robin"_

_He was only too glad to give her his undivided attention. _

_But Starfire had no idea where to start. _

"_Well, uh, I" She started to blush, to her embarrassment. _

"_Yeah," Robin felt a sudden desire to touch her soft-looking cheek. Or stroke her hair. Her shinny silky hair. . . he wondered what kind of shampoo she used. . .a piece of it fell on to her face, right next to her bright green eye. . .Oh wait, was she saying something?_

_He blushed, ashamed because he wasn't sure if Starfire could tell if he wasn't paying attention. He managed to catch the end of her little speech. _

_She bit her lip, and continued. "I said that, well, that, Robin, you have always been my best friend, and-'_

_Robin knew what was coming next. He had hoped this day would never come, but here it was. And he had prepared for it. And sadly, he had every intention to go with his original plan. So her cut her off._

"_I have a lot of work to do, Star."_

_But even though his voice made it clear that he did not want to go anywhere near that subject and he wanted her to leave brave Starfire persisted. _

"_But Robin, I do feel 'the feelings' for you. Do you not feel the-"_

"_Shut up!"_

_Robin's eyes were narrowed, his back straight. So many things were racing in his head. What he could say to let her down easy, which was for the best. Or could he actually accept the fact that he was hopelessly in love with her and just . . .live. But that's not what he said. Under the enormous amount of pressure, that he was, what ended up popping out of his mouth was  
"Get out of here!!" and he didn't way it in a nice way either. In fact, he yelled it, standing up out of his chair as he did, and knocking over the mug of coffee. _

_Big pools of tears sprang visibly to her eyes. _

_She bit her lip as they spilled out all over her face. _

_Robin wished he could suck the words back into his stupid mouth, but what's done is done._

_A sob escaped Starfire's lips and she covered her face and ran from the room. _

_Raven could hear voices yelling outside of the door. Things weren't going as she planned. She knew it was Robin, being an idiot, as usual. She pulled her hood up to hide her face just before Starfire burst tough the door, crying hard, and ran right past Raven. _

_Robin sank back into his chair, and immediately put his hand to his temple. He wasn't sure if he just saved Starfire's life, or murdered his own. _

**Hi! I apologize for it being short and taking me so long to update. I know this wasn't the best chapter. And if you couldn't tell what this chapter was because of my awful writing skills, it was a flashback. So please review. Thank you!**


	9. flashback II

_Starfire had to get out of the tower, she needed fresh air. Tears streamed down her face quickly, and she knew here eyes were red and wet. After that humiliating conversation with Robin, the whole tower seemed way too crowded. (Even though the only person she meet as she dashed down the hallway towards the front door was Cyborg who started at her progress with wide eyes, a sandwich halfway too his mouth). _

_As soon as the door opened, she shot into the dark, star – strewn sky. The dust was still clearing from where she had taken off when she was well into the sky. _

_Her tears flew off her face, and she tried to ignore them, and the cold, wet, stinging feeling they left behind. Just like Robin._

_Her landing was off, and her foot cracked as she landed. A stabbing pain shot all the way up her leg. She pried of her shoes, and sat, rubbing her ankle. _

_For the first time she realized that she was sitting on a beach, the soft steady sound of the waves washing up onto the shore was strangely resurging. This is where Robin had taught her to - _

_She sniffled, and not having a tissue, wiped her nose with her arm. _

_A hand in a black leather glove held out a handkerchief. Starfire turned around, alarmed. _

_She found herself staring into the eyes, or rather the mask, of none other then the notorious, the mysterious . . . Red X!!!_

"_Hey cutie," he grinned. _

_Starfire gasped and tried to scramble to her feet, this was no easy task as sand shifted under her feet, and she had only been to the beach one or two times before. _

_He simply stood there calmly as she prepared to fight, or defend herself, whatever was necessary. _

"_What's wrong?" he reached out his gloved hand to touch her cheek, but she jerked her head away. She knew she should call her team, but, alas, she had left her communicator on her bed. She wasn't sure if she could deal with him on her own. _

_Red X took in her tensed position. "What," asked Red X, "did Robin' boy wonder' tell you he hated you or something?" he chuckled at this, obviously thinking that such a thing could never happen. _

_Starfire let out a sob, and sank onto the sand. _

"_Really?" asked Red X, with wide eyes, "No way!"  
He knelt down next to her. "I can't believe it," he said softly "How can he not see how luck he is?"_

_Starfire didn't answer. _

"_Let me get you a pizza,"_

_Starfire snorted "Are you going to steal it?"_

_He frowned, and sat back on his heels, and wrapped his arms around his knees. "You know, I'm not really as bad as you think I am. . ."_

**I know, it's really short. But I've been extremely busy and I had writers block and I've had stuff to do. Sorry I took so long. I promise to get the next one out sooner. Thanks for reviewing. **


	10. uh i don't have a name for this one

After Starfire explained the whole story – well, ok, not the _whole_ story. She left out some details about Red X – to the titans, everybody had pretty much went off to be by themselves. They also had Raven to thank for this. All the angry and upset emotions flying around the room had caused her to melt two lamps during Starfire's explanation.

In any case, she went right off to meditate.

"Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos."

Beast boy's chin rested in his hands. His eyelids dropped over his somewhat bloodshot eyes. He had not slept at all last night. And after Robin found out about Starfire? Forget it. He went on a wild rampage.

"Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos."

Raven's cape fluttered around her. After the second lamp melted into a shapeless, worthless lump, Raven went right on to meditating. She hadn't even noticed Beast boy's wary gaze on her. Yet.

Emotions still swirled around restlessly in Raven's head.

Robin was angry.

Starfire was scared.

Cyborg was confused.

Beast boy was tired.

Starfire was ashamed.

Cyborg was disapproving.

Beast boy was asleep.

"Beast boy, do you have nothing better to do then watch me meditate?"

His head jerked up, his eyes half open. His hair was messy, sticking up all over the place. Raven suppressed a small smile. "No," he said groggily, before letting head dropped back onto his hands.

Raven tried to go back to meditating, but now that she was aware that Beat boy was present, it was impossible. She let herself out of the air, and, as usual, shut herself in her room.

Beast boy might have taken this as an insult, if he had noticed. But, he did not, he fell asleep again.

Starfire cautiously picked up her pink cell phone. Raven had given it to her for her last birthday. Starfire had been surprised that she'd actually bought something pink, even if it was a gift. 

Slowly she guided her thumb over the keypad and pressed the numbers down one by one.

It rang once before he picked up. He always picked up right away when she called.

"Hey Cutie,"

"Hi," she tried to sound cheerful, but she didn't do a very good job apparently due to his next comment.

"They caught you, didn't they?"

Starfire choose not to answer to that. Witch made Red X say a very bad word.

"Look," he said, "Will you meet me tonight?"

"I don't know," Though she was always anxious to meet him, she wasn't sure she should, under the circumstances.

"C'mon. It's not like you could keep me a secret forever, is it?"

"Well, no, but. . ." she sighed "I guess so. . ."

"Good. I'll see you soon."

Robin was inside his dark room when someone knocked on his door.

"Hey, man" came Cyborg's voice "Can I come in?"

Robin didn't answer. This didn't stop Cyborg, who came in anyway. Why hadn't Robin thought to lock the door?  
He looked around the slightly messy room once, before his gaze stumbled onto Robin, who was sitting at his desk. He had abandoned his uniform for jeans and a T- shirt. The mask, however stayed in place as usual.

"You ok?"

Robin shrugged, though not meeting Cyborg's gaze.

"I mean, it was kinda a shock to all of us, Starfire seeing . . . uh, you know."

Robin remained silent.

"I, uh, I really thought that uh, Starfire had her eye on you, you know?" said Cyborg rubbing the back of his neck.

Robin broke the awkward silence that followed. "If you were trying to make me feel better, or something, you did horribly."

"Right, uh, maybe I'll just leave. . ." And Cyborg practically ran from the room. The door shut with a snap, which left Robin back in the dark, all alone.

He pushed back from his desk, rubbing his eyes, and leaned back in the chair.

Without meaning too, he fell asleep. Nightmare reared its ugly head, and prepared to invade his head.

**Hello, everyone. I humbly thank you for reading. I know that last sentence was weird, but I couldn't help putting it in. **

**Did you like it? Or maybe hate it? I want to know, so please review!! Many thank-yous to those who did, and do review. **


	11. a little chit chat

Starfire chewed on her lip, which was lightly coated with shiny strawberry lip gloss. Usually she had to sneak out of the tower, but under the circumstances, she wasn't sure if she should sneak out, or merely walk out the front door. I mean, there was nothing to keep a secret anymore, was there? Did It matter if someone who might still be up saw her leave?

She debated for a while, but eventually decided on the front door. There was no point in going out the window when everyone knew. Right?

Sticking her titan communicator in her pocket, just in case, she pushed herself up off the unmade bed, and then began walking brusquely toward the door.

As she passed the kitchen, she saw Beast boy there, fast asleep, even though the lights were on brightly. She had to wake him. He would be so stiff in the morning if he slept there at the counter, he was in the most peculiar position. And they had training tomorrow.

She shook his shoulder lightly, but slept soundly on.

So, she shook his shoulder harder.

"Wazzat?" he asked groggily.

"Sorry for awakening you, Friend, but you must go to bed, or you will be sore in the morning."

Beast boy blinked a few times, and became more awake. His green eyes narrowed slightly. "You're going out, aren't you?" It was taken for granted that they both knew 'out' meant to see Red X.

Starfire couldn't help blushing a little.

"Well," she started; she tried to drag it out as long as possible to postpone having to give an excuse.

"You shouldn't, Star. That guy is bad news."

She took a step back as if he had slapped her. "He has changed."

There was silence; the two started blackly at each other, there was nothing else to say.

Starfire took it as her cue to leave. Beast boy frowned, but did not try to stop her as she grasped the brass doorknob, turned, and disappeared into the night.

**Yes it is short again. From now on, the chapters will be about this length, I think. But, they will be coming more often, because I have a lot of stuff to do. So review please!**


	12. smash

A soft but terrified whimper forced its way out of Robin's sweaty mouth.

His breathing was in short pants, heavy and erratic.

His mask had fallen off and lay by the chair legs that he fell asleep on. His eye lids squeezed shut for an instant before relaxing.

Suddenly there was a sharp intake of breath, and short shrill scream as he made an abrupt violent movement that sent him crashing from the chair and onto floor. Pain shot through his body.

This made his eyelids shot open, but he did not move at first. He looked around at his position, and raised a hand to brush off his sweaty brow.

He slowly picked himself up off the floor, and sat lightly on the edge of his bed, pressing his hands to his eyes, and then pushed them up into his slightly damp, ebony hair.

The mattress springs squeaked slightly as he stood up.

He bent down, and replaced the everpresent mask onto his face.

The halls were dark, and he bare-footedly stumbled on his way to the kitchen.

When he got there, all the lights were on, and he had to squint against them.

He roughly grabbed a glass from the cabinet and pushed it under the faucet, yanking it on, filling the glass about three quarters full of the clear water.

He turned around and, leaning on the counter, and gulped it down. Then he yanked open the dishwasher door, with the obvious intention of placing his glass in the dishwasher.

With his mind being all over the place, he did not notice the green light or the swishing noises, which meant Cyborg, had switched it on before going to bed.

Billows of steam poured out of it, hitting Robin in the face, and swirled its way around the kitchen. Water poured down like a waterfall, over the dishes, and into the bottom of the machine.

Robin muttered an inaudible phrase before slamming the door shut.

Something moved, near the door, in his peripheral vision, and he whirled around, dropping the glass, and saw that the 'something' was Starfire, right before the glass smashed, with an incredibly loud and echoing sound, right on his foot.  
Besides the steam, that was almost done clearing from the kitchen, nothing moved.

Starfire looked at his feet.

"Oh, Robin," she said, with a small amount of concern in her voice, "You have been cut,"

Just coming from the comforting arms of Red X, she was in a good mood, and didn't mind running into Robin. Well, not much. She was going to be civil, anyway.

"Uh, how long have you been standing there?" asked Robin.

"I have just entered,"

"Oh,"

"Robin,"

"Yeah,"

"Your foot is bleeding,"

He looked down, and sure enough, his foot was in fact, bleeding. Carefully he stepped over the sharp shards of glass, which glinted at him menacingly by the lights above them.

Starfire was suddenly at his side wielding a broom, and she began to sweep.

"I'll do it," Robin insisted, "I dropped the glass"

Starfire smiled a small smile, "No, I don't mind. You must take care of that cut."

Cut was a bit of an understatement Robin thought as he looked down. It started at his ankle, and all the way down to his toe. Blood spots were appearing on the semi-clean tiled floor.

Starfire made her way down the hall. She had swept up the glass, and Robin had bandaged his foot. But nothing else remotely interesting happened that night.

She was tired, for she had been worrying all day, and Red X had been so kind as to treat her to a meal, so she was also rather warm and lethargic.

When she pulled the sheets around her, they became more messed up, and she promised herself that she would clean her room up tomorrow.

Her eyes closed and an uneasy sleep claimed her.

**Hmm... nothing too interesting happened did it...**

**Well some interesting stuff is coming, so just keep reading! **


	13. ew

It was (so far) a normal day at Titan's Tower.

Beast boy was playing some video game that involved a green car.

Raven was reading her latest book.

Robin was eating lunch.

And Starfire was curled up on the couch watching Beast boy, with her feet pulled up to her stomach and her arms wrapped around her legs.

Cyborg entered the room and looked around at them all. Nervously he cleared his throat. Everyone looked at him.

"Uhhh" he said as he slyly he began to open the door behind him while facing front trying to insure a quick getaway, "well, bumblebee's coming over for the weekend. Ok, bye."

"Wait a second," said Robin, "What?" Cyborg stopped with a pained look on his face

"Well, we were talking, and she said that sometimes she gets annoyed living with four guys, and I suggested that she come for a visit this weekend, and she said she'd be right there,"

"Uh, excuse me," said Starfire,

"Ohhhh, you so _like _her!" exclaimed Beast boy in pure gleefull happiness.

Cyborg began to inch toward the door "I do not!" He shouted.

"How long is she staying," asked Robin

"Excuse me," said Starfire in a small voice

"Just, you know, the weekend"

"And where" added Raven in her usual monotone "did you think she going to sleep"

"Well," said Cyborg, "I thought that Starfire would enjoy having a friend sleepover in her room. . ."  
After this statement, Starfire threw up. Literally.

"Ewww," squealed Beastboy

"You are so immature" said Raven

"Not uh. Aw, you guys made me crash!" he looked solemnly at the screen flashing 'Game Over' in bright blue, green, yellow, orange, and red.

Then there was a knock on the door. . .

**Yes, the End. The next one should be coming shortly.**


	14. soup

**Last Chapter, it was obviously not to clear that Starfire threw up because she was sick. So, I apologize, and tried to get the point across this chapter. **

"I'm sorry," said Cyborg said, turning to Bumblebee "As soon as you come to visit, Starfire gets sick, and barfs."

"Don't worry about it, Sparky," she said with a slight laugh.

Beast boy let out a slight snicker, and Cyborg glared at him.

Cyborg, Raven, Beast boy, and Bumblebee were all crowed around the outside of Starfire's door. After finishing with their own dinner, Robin made some soup for Starfire, and then said he was too busy to deliver it to her. Nobody really believed that he was 'too busy' of course, but they carried the tray of soup, complete with a tiny daisy in a small vase, to her room, with out him anyway.

After being told to enter, the titans, minus Robin plus Bumblebee, came in, all smiles.

"Friends!" she greeted happily.

Her room was mostly neat, as usual, but there were a few unmistakable signs that Starfire was sick. Two empty tissue boxes lay on the floor. A third lay next to her on the pink comforter, and a dark green trash can, which was fairly deep, was overflowing with tissues sat by her bed.

"Thank you!" she smiled enormously at the sight of the soup, "You are so thoughtful!"

"Yeah," added Beast boy "but we didn't make it R-" Cyborg quickly and subtly stepped on his foot "OW!" exclaimed Beast boy

"Why'd you-"

"How are you feeling?" Cut in Raven.

Starfire grimaced "Not so well, I'm afraid,"  
Then she noisily blew her nose, and tossed it to the trash can, which it missed, and landed on the small pile on the floor.

She gasped, and smiled at Bumblebee "Friend, it is wonderful to see you again! The last time I saw you it was when The Brotherhood of Evil was trying to take over the world, correct?"

Bumblebee chuckled "That sounds about right,"

Starfire giggled, and then coughed.

"We should let you get some rest," said Raven.

Still smiling, everyone shuffled out of her room.

Cyborg and Bumblebee walked down the hall. They were close, almost touching. Bumblebee's eyes glittered happily. Cyborg started down at her,

"And then," she was unable to keep the happiness out of her voice, "Speedy said," Her voice suddenly changed to brisk and slightly disgusted "what is that smell?"

Cyborg turned around, "oh," he said.

"What?"

He pointed to the left wall, "its Beat boy's room."

Bumblebee looked confused.

"He has the messiest room in the world," he explained to her confounded look.

"What's messy?" asked Beast boy, ambling up to them with his hands stuck into his pockets.

"Your room." said Cyborg with crossed arms.

Beast boy chuckled lightly. His eyes darted from side to side. "Well, I would clean it up now, but I'm busy uh doing stuff, you know" he waved a hand aside, but even as he did, his ears drooped and he gave one more feeble "he, he?" Tough, it sounded like a question.

"If you don't clean it up," Cyborg said sternly, "I'll let Raven do it. The mess, not to mention the smell, has been bugging her, and she said she would be able to clean it up quickly with on of her spells…"

Beast boy grumbled something that sounded like 'on a potato' and walked into his room. The door clicked loudly and ominously behind him, as if it was sentencing him to doom.

Bumblebee stared at him.

"Did Raven really say that?" she asked suspiciously.

Cyborg snickered "no, but I had to think of some way to get him to clean it up. And I wanted to see if it would work. C'mon let me show you the T car!"

He grabbed her elbow and half dragged half led her to the garage.

Cyborg must have forgotten that he had already shown her. Twice.

**Special thanks to: XxNightfirexX, cartoonstar, Faireangelx3o, ****RosesyLace****lil love fan****SuPeR HyPeR chick 101****PotoPerson****, and ****tennisgal456**.

**If I missed someone, I am so sorry. **

**Please Review!**


	15. grow up

Starfire was just waking from a rather heavy sleep. Her eyes were still heavy, and the covers felt very warm and comfortable around her. She rolled over, and saw Robin watching her, which needless to say, was very much unexpected, although she did not let out a gasp or jump, as people do when they are surprised.

He pointed to the tray and empty soup bowl that lay on the ground next to her bed.

"I was going to clean that up," he said quietly. What he did not mention was that when he saw her there, sleeping so peacefully and, well, he had got a little sidetracked.

"Oh, thank you,"

He gave a half hearted shrug "anytime"

Starfire sat up a little more in her bed. This time her pajamas were a silk pink button up shirt with a deep V neck. She pulled her red hair away from her face and behind her neck.

He picked up the tray and bowl and rested it on his lap as he sat on the edge of the bed. "So you're feeling better?" he asked interestedly, but mostly just to have something to say.

"I have been worse,"

This was true. Obviously being a super hero, as the title implies, you do get a few scrapes and bruises on the job. Robin looked at her, without saying a word.

A necklace peeked out from her shirt. It was spun with silver and pearls and the shape on a butterfly. . .

"I haven't seen that one before," said Robin slowly. He face became less soft somehow, and he frowned slightly. He had a good idea where this had come from.

Jewelry was not something that Starfire wore very often; mostly there was just no need for it. Usually she wore a plain silver ring with a small jade embedded in it, and that's it. On special occasions she would might wear something simple, but nothing so ornate. So this was unusual, but not unheard of.

She blushed slightly "Oh well," she tried to explain.

Red X choose this moment to burst into the room, followed by Beast boy and Cyborg who looked like they were about to become bodyguards, and Raven looking board, and Bumblebee looking very confused and a little mad.

Robin stood up abruptly sending the tray crashing to the floor. Nobody missed that his hands had curled into ridged fists. Red X leaned back slightly, he looked amused. This only angered Robin further.

"Why are _you_ here?" he growled hoping X would get the message and just leave.

Red X shrugged, "Starfire didn't call, and I got worried,"

"She's fine," said Robin harshly.

Red X looked around him at Starfire. "Looks kind of sick to me,"

Robin clenched his teeth.

"We tried to stop him" Beat boy piped up "But he didn't listen,"

"Can someone please tell me what the heck is going on?" asked Bumblebee loudly and sounding very confused.

"Starfire has been seeing Red X secretly and she got sick, fell asleep, didn't call him and then he decided to barge over here because he was worried." Said Raven in a monotone.

"What?" she exclaimed

"Long story, I'll tell you later," muttered Cyborg.

"I have work to do," Robin said to the floor, in intense mummer.

He quickly strode from the room. The door swished close behind him.

Completely ignoring everybody else in the room, Red X stepped up to the side of her bed.

"Hey cutie," he said. He leaned down and gave her a kiss on the top of her head.

"ew." said Beat boy. Raven smacked him on the back of the head. "Ow!" he yelped and began to rub where Raven hit him.

"Grow up" she said.

**Sorry, I haven't updated for a while. I just want to say that I know Beastboy wouldn't say 'ew' but, sounded funny when I thought of it, so I kept it in there. **

**Please Review! **

**(It snowed today!! 3)**


	16. eavesdropping attempt

"Okay, someone _please_ tell me what the hell is going on?" asked Bumblebee with a scowl and her hands on her hips as soon as Starfire's room was evacuated. Cyborg exhaled.

"Well," he said softly "Starfire has been seeing Red X secretly. For months apparently. We've only just figured that out. So then, to make a long story short, and cut out a lot of talking and arguing, Red X visited her today because she's sick."

"Oh," Bumblebee said. She thought silently for a while, biting her lip and looking sideways. And then, with just a hint of humor in her voice she said "I bet Robin's mad,"

Cyborg met her eye and laughed humorlessly "he is seriously pissed."

Bumblebee touched his arm lightly, "Sparky," she began, but was interrupted by Beast boy.

"Shhh, I can't hear anything with you two yapping away," he said irritably. He stood outside of Starfire's door with his green ear pressed up flat against it and a look of strained concentration on his face. His eyes looked toward the door, as if he could see through it.

Raven frowned, pulling up her hood, "You shouldn't be eavesdropping on them," she said impassively.

"Oh yeah?" Beast boy said defensively "Why not?"

"Because," she said, rather darkly "sometimes when you spy, you find out things you don't want to hear."

Everyone was silent, and Beast boy raised one eyebrow.

"And" she continued, more lightly, "They can hear you from inside,"

Beat boy's face dropped.

Cyborg snickered.

**Yes, I _know _it's short. You'll get over it. The next part is already in progress. Don't worry, I have a bunch of action coming!**

**Review (or else)**


	17. mega monkeys

At first the titans hovered around her door to wait for Red X to come out, but he was in there for such a long time, that they all drifted away from boredom. Raven was showing Bumblebee her favorite coffee shop, and Cyborg and Beast boy were deeply engaged in some sort of viscous video game battle. And who knew where Robin was? Doing something useless, no doubt.

So when Red X finally gave Starfire one last kiss on the top of the head, and came out, nobody was around, and Red X had no idea where he was. He walked down the hall, passed door labeled 'Robin', 'Beast boy', 'Raven' and so forth.

When he came to the end, there were two doors. He stared at them, wondering why the heck the titans needed so many doors, and carefully then chose the one on the left.

There was some more corridors, and doors. He ended up in the same technology filled room twice. He climbed up three flights of stairs and went down two floors in an elevator.

He was lost, but he was more annoyed. Who knew a giant T could be so big? So you can imagine his relief when he ran into Beast boy and Cyborg, sitting on a couch in front of a giant TV. Normally they would have turned around to face him, but Beast boy was losing and Cyborg was busy laughing at him.

Red X cleared his throat. Cyborg threw a glance over his shoulder. He did a double take when he saw Red X. Beast boy, however, did not look away from the beloved screen but said in an annoyed voice "No, he's not gone yet, Robin! I told you that we'd tell you when-" Cyborg elbowed him in the ribs. Hard.

"Ow!" Beast boy turned in his seat to glare at his friend. "What was that for?" He followed Cyborg's gaze, and a sheepish expression came over his face. "Oh, hey Red X,"

Compared to Beast boy's slightly high pitched voice, Red X's voice seemed very deep. "Uh," he said "Which door is the exit?" he said, rather lamely.

Simultaneously, Cyborg and Beast boy pointed to the right without a word.

"Thanks," he said. He started toward it, but suddenly stopped when he caught sight of the TV screen and saw the game they were, so engrossed in. His jaw dropped.

"Is that Mega monkeys 5?" he whispered.

Cyborg and beast boy grinned slyly "With the extension package," added Cyborg, proudly.

"I didn't even know it was in stores yet." he said desperately, a look of lust coming to his face. I mean mask.

The next thing anybody knew, all three were sitting down playing Mega Monkeys 5. Funny how that works, isn't' it? I guess no matter what side you're on, good, evil, in the middle, every person on the male gender can appreciate a good video game battle.

Round 3. the screen flashed, and monkeys fought. Red X sat on the sofa, Cyborg to his left. Beast boy was in the armchair. They were so into the game, they barley aware of the door shwishing open, but after that, were was no sound.

X, Beast boy, and Cyborg continued to play. Then they heard it. A growling soft, but deep, and very Angy, even hurt voice behind them.

"What. Are.You. Doing?" It was Robin. It had the effect of a motorcycle starting up in a quiet room.

X, BB, and Cyborg all jumped up like children caught with hand inside the cookie jar. Beast boy and Cyborg looked down in shame under Robin's intense gaze, but not Red X. he looked right back at Robin. "It looks like," he said in a slow but steady voice, "We're playing video games.

Both of their hands were clenched tight into intimidating fists. Nobody said a word. But they were certainly thinking.

Cyborg and Best boy were hoping that a fight wouldn't break out.

Red X, on the other hand, could've used a good fight. He was thinking_: Go ahead, fight me! Just try!_

Which Robin was trying very hard not to do. But the more he thought about it, the more angry he grew. How dare they play games with him? He was the enemy! The _enemy! _And they were sitting around playing!

The two things happened at once. Starfire, still clad in her pajamas, walked through the door. "I-" she began but didn't say anything else, because that is when Robin lunged at Red X.

He caught him in the middle, and they both flew right through the window. It shattered into a million minuscule pieces, and scattered all over the floor.

Starfire gasped. She tried to fly after them, through the window, but she was held back by Cyborg's firm and gentle hand on her shoulder. "Don't get in the middle of it," he suggested "You don't want to be there,"

Robin and Red X both landed on the tips of their fingers, but neither stayed still for very long.

They lunged at each other, Robin, whipped out his staff, and thrust it into the ground. He flew through the air, and his feet made solid contact with Red X. They quickly and furiously exchanged punches.

Red X managed to get hold of Robin, and toss him over his head where he landed hard on his back on the ground. But Robin swiftly kicked Red X's feet out from under him.

He raised his hand, and drew it back preparing to launch it forward.

However, he never got a chance. Their little brawl did not go on for very long. Both boys were fully encased with black energy and blown forcefully apart. Raven came between them, her cape fluttering around her. Her arms were spread out wide, covered in black. Her eyes glowed.

"I think" she said with much authority "that it is time for you to leave, Red X."

Red X shrugged "fine," he said. Then fizzled (like when you rewind a video tape) and disappeared.

**I apologize for bad fight scene. Use your imagination to make it better. Then review.**


	18. Hahaha! Robin gets yelled at

As Raven turned the corner in the hallway, her cape fluttered almost noiselessly behind her. She was making her way from Starfire's room to Robin's.

After witnessing the short brawl between Robin and Red X, Starfire had become hysterically upset. And why not? Her boss (or leader whatever you want to call it) slash guy who she had a major crush on and just leaped through of her window with her boyfriend. This kind of stuff does not happen on a day to day basis. Well, I mean it doesn't if you're not a superhero.

Anyway, She had needed to be conferted, and since Robin was apparently not going to do anything about it, Raven had to.

But now, afterwords, she had to talk to Robin. Without any type of hesitation, she knocked on his door, and entered without waiting for a reply. As usual he was seated in his computer chair. This time he was tending to the numerous little scratches he had collected from leaping through a sheet of glass. Luckily for him, they were only on a small part of his forearms, and some on his face. The rest of him had been covered by gloves and his uniform. Neither did they hurt very much.

He glared over his shoulder had her for a second, before Turing his head around. "Go away," he feebly. Raven was having none of it.

She strode up to him and yanked his chair around to face her. They glared at each other.

"Listen to me, Robin" She hissed in low, menacing way "Just because you made the mistake of pushing Starfire away from your life, does not mean you can go throwing yourself into fights with whomever she decides to date! That's none of your business anymore!" She was trying hard not to let Robin's lamp explode.

Robin right back at her. "I" he said slowly, but clearly "Do not go around throwing myself into fights! Starfire can date whoever she wants! I don't care!"

"Except Red X apparently." Raven said.

Robin girted his teeth They were practically nose to nose now, and glaring daggers at each other. "He's evil. He's not welcome here."

Raven grabbed his arm, and bent low to him. She had such a tight grip on him, that blood started to ooze out from the freshly acquired cuts and trickled down onto Ravens white fingers.

She spoke quietly, but Robin caught every word "You are not going to hurt Starfire any longer. She cried for an hour after you're fight, she thinks it's all your fault! She gave you a chance, and you humiliated her."

Robin had the grace to look ashamed at least, Raven ranted on "And after you rejected her, she finally finds someone else she likes, you go psycho and push him through a window. Well not anymore! I've stood by and watched long enough! Make up your mind, Robin, but I'm waring you, leave Starfire out of it!"

Then Raven let go off his arm, at the same time that Robin wrenched it from her grip. The bed started to shake.

And then, Robin's shoulders slumped, like he admitted defeat. Which would be a new thing for him. He turned away from her. "Just - Go away." he said, but softly.

Raven left, but she couldn't help being the tiniest bit pruned of herself. She knew she had been mad, but nothing had exploded. Nothing had melted. Nothing had whizzed through the air to hurtled itself at anyone.

Maybe she was finally gaining control of her power. Instead of going to meditate, which is what she usually would have done, Raven finished a book she'd been meaning to read. And she didn't feel the least bit regretful. Not yet, anyway.

**I would like to say that tennisgal456 and Raven's Secret had very good points, and they made me feel very stupid.**

**I am also thanking PotoPerson, XxnightfirexX, cartoonstar, and The Queen of Hearts for reviewing and making me so happy !!**

**I am going to wish everyone a happy new year! And if you would just keep me in your prayers on Jan 26, I'd really appreshate it!! Thank you, now Review!! **


	19. Lion King!

Starfire sat on her bed, with her arms wrapped around her knees. She squeezed her eyes shut, so much that it almost hurt, and tried not to let the tear that threatened to spill over, fall.

Usually she was a cheerful person. She was into pink, pillows, fluffy bunny rabbits, that kind of thing.

Raven had just left. She had been a great comfort to Starfire. They had had a rare moment when Raven had even brought herself so low as to paint Starfire's nails. For those of you who know Raven, you probably know how painful it was for her to paint Starfire's nails a happy, sparkly, pink color, and not throw up in disgust.

So then, you must also know how much worse it was when Starfire insisted on returning the favor, but mercifully substituting a dark blue for the pink. Which actually Raven found she didn't mind. Well, not to much.

But now that Raven left, she seemed to have taken the happy moment with her into the slowly darkening hall. This, you know, does not happen very often at all, with Raven.  
Despite Starfire's best efforts, she felt the tear she had been holding slide down her cheek, leaving a trail of warm salt water.

It splashed onto her knee.

Outside Starfire's window, the sun was slowly melting into the ground like butter on a piece of hot toast.

There was a knock at her door. Starfire quickly used the heel of her hand to wipe away the tear. Disguising her voice as well as she could, she said softly "Come in,"

Bumble bee entered her room. She came right up to Starfire and gave her a gentle hug. "Hey," she said, her soft voice laced with concern. "How're you doin'?"

Starfire shrugged "I'm fine,"

Bumble bee sat cross legged on Starfire's bed. "Don't worry about it," she said "I mean - it's all Robin's fault, what the hell was he thinking, jumping out of a window, just don't blame your-" Her eyes were drawn to the half – open bottles of nail polish on the desk. Her eyes widened "Aw! You and Raven painted each others nails and I missed it!"

Starfire smiled. "Yeah, it's hard to believe, huh"

Bumblebee shook her head, "I never thought I'd see the day when Raven would willing paint her nails."

A few hours later, everyone in the tower was peacefully asleep. Well, almost everyone. The boy wonder was in a nightmare.

_He heard his parents scream as they plummeted. It rang in his ears, etched into his brain forever. Time seemed to slow. He tried to get to them, pushing through a pair of legs, but it was too late, he couldn't make his way through the crowd! _

"_No!!" he yelled, in his tiny voice, a tear left a warm trail down his cheek._

_As soon as they hit the ground it was chaos. Time sped up instead of slowed down. Everyone was screaming, the ringmaster was yelling, paramedics sped onto the scene. He couldn't hear anything. _

_Suddenly Robin was in a sea of legs, all moving and trying to get out and away. He fought against them, pushing in the opposite direction, to get to the ring. His parents! They needed his help!_

_His little voice was barely heard in the giant crowd. Everything was so loud; he didn't know what was happening. He couldn't see his mom or dad! His mind replayed the sickening scream again and again…_

Robin woke up yelling.

And he decided that he was going to be in charge of his own destiny.

**lol, as I was writing that, Lion King music was playing in my head. And when Robin yelled "no!" I thought of the part where Simba's dad died in the stamped. **

**But anyway, I'm going to change the name of this story because lets face it, 'sneaky' does not fit. Does anyone have any suggestions??**

**Review please!!**


	20. a fine line

**This chapter makes a lot of references to the teen titan's episode "Go" So if you've never seen it, I suggest you do before reading this. **

_Am I absolutely insane?_

_What part of me actually thought this would work?_

_Good guys battle bad guys every day, yet you didn't see any of them trying to go out with each other._

_But I don't really believe Red X is bad. I have learned long ago that there is no solid line between good and evil. But I wished there was now, it would make things so much easier. _

Starfire lay awake, resting on her side with the covers drawn up to her chin. She stared at the walls of her room, but didn't really see anything. A memory nagged at the corner of her mind, and slowly, she gave into it and let herself remember what she always tried to forget. Silence pressed in on her ears, and it was deafening.

_The silence was deafening. The ugly lizard guards that stood outside her door made no noise. Of course not. They were professionals. Her cell was small, and was perfumed with the smell of decay. She knew where she was headed for, and the final destination was going to be deathly. The Gordanians were giving her to the Citadel because they were indebted to them. The second in line for the throne from Tameran ought to be a good payment. She would be their servant, in whatever way they desired._

_The obvious reaction to this was fear. And at first, after being torn from all she knew, Starfire had been afraid. Very afraid. She sat in the corner, with her hands in her lap. Her hands had been bound in high technology handcuffs. She could not use her starbolts to escape. She would never see her family again. Her head was bowed in submission. She felt the ship shutter forward beneath her. But as the last tear dried away, she no longer felt fear._

_No, she sat there and realized she was mad. Not just mad, furious. Outraged. What right did they have to take her from her home? Slowly she looked up to face the disgusting cell. It was dark except for a single small patch of light on the floor from the window in the door. The metal was thick. She knew that she was in the top – security volt. The guards said nothing could get in or out. She would have to see about that._

_Her arms ached. Her throat was dry and sore. It felt like someone had plunged a knife_

_Down it, but she continued to yell at the top of her lungs._

_Her shoulders protested at the thought of slamming into the door again, but it was becoming looser, she could tell. The hinges were about to give. Had she not been handcuffed with the best technology the Gordainians possessed, breaking out would have been much easier. In stead, she used their technology against them, using the thick metal to bash down their door. _

_With another blow, the door flew off its hinges, and down the hall, Starfire wasted no time in taking care of the gauds. It was easy to escape to the ship._

_The impact on Earth shook her. If she didn't get these handcuffs of soon, she would be in trouble .The Gordaniatns wouldn't let her go that easy She knew they would be right on her tail. She had to concentrate on getting these handcuffs off. _

_She started to bang her handcuffs into everything she saw. Nothing was strong enough to break it. Earth's objects crumpled under her strength. _

_Something sharp flew into her face. She stumbled, and turned around ready to pummel whoever dared to throw something at her, and came face to face with Robin for the first time ever. And all she felt was hate. _

_Starfire was kneeling on the ground. Her breath was uneven and ragged. It hurt to breathe. Especially after all the yelling she had done. Her body ached from all the running and bashing down doors. Finally she had managed to break the outer shell off her handcuffs by smashing her hands as hard as she could into the ground. _

_Two more had joined this strange person in the battle against her. She had tried to shoot them with her starbolts, but the people of Earth were faster then they seemed. _

_She stood up, The Gordanians were still after her, and she could not simply sit there on the ground and wait for them. _

_The one with the black hair approached her. He kept saying strange things and she couldn't understand him. He reached for his belt. Starfire warned him to stop. She told him not to move._

_But he took out a tool and stuck it into the remains of her handcuffs. They feel to the ground with a loud clanking noise. Again he spoke in a strange language. So she kissed him._

Starfire groaned and tried not to remember how it had felt when their lips crashed together. Of course, then a kiss meant nothing to her, she needed know the language, that was it, but now….

Now everything was different.

**Ok, I have two titles here, which do you guys like most? When two worlds collide, OR Destiny's turns. Tell me if you hate them both. **

**Review or else. Please. **


	21. When even your wildest dreams come true

**If you did not know, I do not own teen titans. If you did, then without further ado, I present to you the next chapter. **

The entire team, with the addition of Bumblebee, stood outside the door. It was a very bright day, and sunshine streamed down on them, warming they're faces and hands as they waved and said their good byes. Bumblebee smiled and waved with the hand that was not caring a suitcase. Cyborg put the other one in the trunk of his beloved car. He had insisted that he drive her home. Cyborg shut the trunk with a snap, and tapped Bumblebee on the shoulder to let her know he was ready to go.

She climbed into the passenger seat, and buckled her seat belt. She waved as the car dove out of sight. Starfire, who by now was declared to be in perfect health, continued to wave even as the car pulled out of sight. Beast boy snickered.

He could't help it. he'd been chuckling ever since he saw Bumblebee and Cyborg saying their 'good byes' in the garage before anyone else was around. When he had stepped into the garage to say good bye to bumblebee with the rest of the team, he discovered he was the first one there. He glanced to the right, and nearly had a heart attack when he saw Bee and Cyborg in a full out lip lock.

Beast boy squealed, then laughed, and watched as they wrenched apart, turned a deep shade of red, and stand there awkwardly as beast boy stood and laughed. Fortunately Raven and Starfire came into the garage then, saving anyone from talking or giving explanations.

Raven knew what had happened, however, no one knew she knew. The happiness rang from every part of Bumblebee and Cyborg and it was hard to keep from smiling herself. To stop herself she hit Beast boy on the back of his head and told him not to laugh for no reason.

Beast boy was sitting on his bed reading a comic book. He was feeling extreamly proud of himself. He had gotten rid of all the dirty plates in his room that had once held half eaten food. The dishwasher was cleaning them right now. He had also purchased an air freshener. Well, OK Starfire had gotten it for him as an early birthday present because she said that no one should have to live in that kind of smell. But still. Unfortunately the scent was a little too floral for his taste, but it none the less smelled much better then it did.

Suddenly he was overwhelmed by a succulent aroma. Food! Finally someone was making food and he didn't have to do it himself. He jumped up, letting his comic book fall to the ground and practically ran to the kitchen.

There stood Robin, making dinner. A few months ago, it would not have been odd to see Robin wearing the legendary 'Kiss the cook' apron (which was, in fact, the only apron he possessed) making mashed potatoes and grilled chicken for the entire team. But now, Beast boy couldn't believe his eyes. Raven was surprised as well, but obviously not the type to let it show. But she couldn't help but let a little bit of smugness show. She was glad to see that her 'talk' with Robin had sunk into his thick skull.

Starfire sat at the table flat out ogling at this unexpectedness. weeks before, she would have rejoiced at this sight. How things had changed. . .

Robin had noticed Starfire's astonished looks out of the corner of his eye, and was surprised to feel a happy uplifting feeling when she simply looked at him. Cyborg had not yet returned from taking Bumblebee home.

Beast boy, after some difficulty and throat clearing managed to catch Star's eye. He gave her a grateful look. He was trying to thank her for persuading Robin to cook dinner. Starfire shook her head, signaling that she was no where near responsible for it.

There was a loud knock, completely destroying the stunned silence. Starfire blushed.

"Oh, friends," she said tentatively "I forgot to mention, I have invited over Red X."

Even Raven didn't't bother to hold back and annoyed groan.

Starfire answered the door and Red X walked in. He glanced around, and saw Robin suddenly looking very stupid and childish in his 'Kiss the cook' apron. Especially when X went "Nice outfit,"

Raven snapped her book shut very loudly, and glared and X. The last thing she needed was Red X coming in and destroying all she had worked for. And she wasn't about to play referee again. Red X must have gotten the message because he shut his mouth and didn't say anything else.

Dinner, which would have been a happy ordeal seeing as Robin was not shut away and cooking no less, was silent, tense and uncomfortable.

Robin never relaxed the entire forty-five minutes they ate. He remained as stiff as a board. This probably had a little something to do with the fact that Red X kept one hand below that table, firmly on Starfire's knee.

A quarter of an hour later, Cyborg walked in to see a very tense group. Red X sat in the only armchair, with Starfire placed in his lap like a trophy. His arms were around her waist and he held her close to him. Starfire wore a sheepish expression.

They were watching a movie, most likely something that Beast boy picked out because unlike everyone else, he was glued to the screen. Raven, not bothering to contain her boardom with the movie, was reading, but glancing at Robin out of the corner of her eye every once in a while to make sure that he was behaving.

Robin sat upright, and tense. His hands were fists at his sides, and his jaw was clenched. His eyes were narrowed and his back did not rest against the sofa but remained with an envy a ruler would envy.

Red X had obviously noticed the fact the Robin was extremal angry and/or jealous. And he felt no remorse in rubbing it in. He would squeeze Starfire closer to him, or move his mouth lightly up and down her jaw, or suddenly whisper into her ear and cause her to blush violently.

Cyborg was seriously going to do something to help Robin out a little. But then he decided to leave the room as quickly as possible, thus getting out of any possibility of danger.

Fortunately for Robin, Raven 's patients with Beast boy's bad taste in movies wore thin. She sat up and stated that she wouldn't watch the rest of this stupid movie if you paid her.

Which in you can imagine, which I'm sure you can, started a huge fight between Raven and Beast boy. Which ended in Raven morphing through the floor and Beast boy storming out the door. After that X said that he 'should probably go'.

Both of them stood by the door. I'll be back tomorrow," He said softly, as he held a piece of her soft hair, and brought it to his face. He tilted her face up and looked at her longingly.

Robin was leaning on the counter, which was only a few feet away, with his arms crossed, and his eyes slightly narrowed at Red X, like some kind of sick school dance chaperon. He cleared his throat loudly.

Red X turned his head slowly to glare at Robin. "Hey, you got a problem?" he asked in a rough challenging voice.

Starfire's long delicate fingers wrapped themselves firmly around X's arm. Which is a lot more firm then their appearance would suggest.

She pulled on his arm so that he bent slightly, but his gaze was still locked onto Robin.

She took his head in her hands, and pressed his cheek to her lips. x turned and smiled at her. Then he shot a glare at Robin and left, shutting the door loudly behind him.

Starfire turned on the spot and gave him a stare that could have freezed fire if it dared to stand in her path.

Without uddering a syllable, she strode from the room. Robin followed her all the way down the hallway, and into the next one before she stopped in her tracks, right outside her door. "What?" she asked him shortly without so much as turning around.

"Starfire," he said in a gentle voice "I don't think that you should see Red X,"

Starfire turned on the spot to face him. Her hair fanned out behind her as she turned, and Robin caught a lovely smell of flowers, and some kind of fruity exotic scent. He wondered what kind of shampoo she used.

She glared at him. Words seemed to have failed her.

"Y-you!" she stuttered. Her eyes glowed, and her usually smooth forehead was furrowed with ridges.

Starfire's jaw was clenched tight as if she didn't trust herself to speak. She turned away again, and prepared to enter her room and slam the door in his face. It was taking her a lot to control her anger. Raven would have been so proud.

Robin grabbed her arm and swung her around.

"Let go of my arm," she said darkly.

Robin calmly observed her behind his masked eyes. "I think you should break up with him," he continued as if she hadn't just had the intention of slamming a door in his face.

"Why?" she said angrily, and then, in a rush, "because you fought him and pushed him out a window? Because you hate him? Because while, every day, you have given me the shoulder of coldness he has shown me love and kindness, and you hide behind that mask every day!"

Robin reached out and touched the side of Starfire's face with his hand. Starfire jerked away sharply and took a step back, truly afraid. Why did he have the power to make her feel like _this?_

"God, I love you," he said softly, and then, before Starfire's mind could even begin to digest this new development, his lips had been crushed onto hers.

She had put out her hands to stop it at the last minute, but the attempt was fruitless. Now she remained helpless as his strong arms clasped her to his chest as though he though someone might pull her away. Her arms were bent at the elbow, and her hands rested on his warm, muscular, chest.

It was as if a great fog had consumed her brain. She could not think, or make any reason at all. All she could do was feel. And she felt like her insides had been set on fire.

And you know what? She liked it. A lot.

So she did the logical thing a person can do in her position. She kissed him back. and he held her so close to him. . .

But as their lips move rhythmically against each others, she realized what was going on, unfortunately.

And using all her strength and self control, she pushed him away from her, hard. He fell to the ground, barley getting his arms out in front of him in time. And Starfire couldn't help but notice, as the fog lifted, that after she ended their warm embrace, she felt cold.

But she ignored it, and turned to her anger. Robin laid on the ground staring transfixed up at her.

"Stay away from me!" she said, but she wasn't able to keep the break out of her voice. Robin hastily got up, and tried to take a step forward. But Starfire had already turned and, to her original intention, slammed her door in his face. Hard.

Robin stood there. His nose was almost touching the cold unforgiving metal of her door. Nothing had changed after all. No, wait, something had changed. Starfire probably hated his guts even more now. He knew he should be upset. And he was, sort of. He just couldn't stop a grin from sneaking it's way onto his face.

He had done it. He had kissed Starfire, what he had been dreaming about for years now, and she had even refrained from burning him to a crisp. And, it had felt great.

**I just want you to know that I would have updated much sooner, but it was really hard for me to write this chapter for some reason. OK, that's it. Review now. **


	22. Don't screw it up again

Beast boy sat on top of the dryer. He felt it rumble and shake beneath him. It shook his whole green body. As it spun-dry his uniforms, his mind worked over the events of the day.

So Robin had finally kissed Starfire. He couldn't help but think 'finally!' I mean, they had been crazy about each other from the start. It had actually been kind of annoying watching them flirt with each other constantly and then blush. Or hear Starfire's high pitched giggle as they walked down the hall together. Beast boy had just wanted them to make out all ready and get it over with.

Actually, Beast boy and Cyborg had been spying on them constantly, trying to catch the moment when it would happen. Neither of them had been very successful. Apparently, they had even missed the moment where it had all fallen apart.

And then of course, when we found out that Starfire was dating Red X, it was like _wham!_ Someone had just hit you in the face with bricks in a pillowcase, and everyone feels like a complete moron for not seeing it coming. And beast boy had pretty much thought that that was going to be the end of Robin and Starfire, since she had apparently moved on, now he would have no other choice then to let her go.

Witch was sad because the entire team wanted them to get together. They practically belonged together.

But next thing you know, he's all jealous, and just grabs Star and kisses her. But the really odd thing is that Starfire had pushed Robin away. And then slammed the door in his face! Usually it was the opposite way around; Robin would be closing the door on Star. Beast boy had honestly thought that Star wanted Robin to kiss her. It serves Robin right.

But Beast boy didn't really mean that. He knew why Robin did what he did, and Beat boy didn't blame him. He though Robin was being stupid, but he didn't blame him. He was only trying to protect her. Since obviously, Starfire was a weak little girl that couldn't take care of herself, and every single bad guy in the whole wide worldhad nothing better to do then target Robin's love life 24/7.

Once beast boy had gone online and found countless websites and chat rooms and clubs that were all

"Starfire and Robin belong together"

"OMG Robin is soo hawt!"

"They have to get together! That would be so cool"

And a lot of other stuff. Some stuff had actually been really disturbing. There had been a lot of sick stuff. Whole websites devoted to BeastboyxStarfire, and RavenXcyborg, and he even had the misfortune of stumbling across a robinXslade fan fiction, which almost made him sick to his very stomach, and he vowed to never tell anyone, ever. The titans had quite a few fans. Some sane, some sickos, but fans all the same.

Actually, there had been a lot of BeastboyxRaven shippers. And Beast boy thought that was ridicules. Raven was so unlike how the people made her sound. She was so much more . . . sophisticated then that. Not that he had actually read anything about it.

Someone was walking toward the laundry room. It had to be Starfire; she was the only one that wore heels in the tower, to his knowledge anyway. Starfire came in, laden down with sheets. She didn't even notice Beast boy even though he was only a few feet away. If he wanted to he could have reached out and touched her as she struggled to get her sheets into the washer. She pushed them down, and messily and quickly measured out detergent. Some of the white powder spilled over the sides and fell into the washer. She slammed down the top and sighed. She brought her hand to her forehead and massaged her temple. "Now I know why Raven meditates," she muttered softly to herself.

Beast boy cleared his throat just loud enough that Starfire would snap her head around and see him sitting there, shaking from the power of the dryer. She blushed a light pink, and smiled a smile that had no warmth. Her emerald eyes didn't glow like they usually did. They stayed dull and sparkle-less.

"Friend," she said sadly, "how are you?"

"how are _you?_" asked Beast boy, concerned. Starfire just gave a half hearted shrug and flew up to land on the washer, so they were sitting side by side.

"I heard what happened," Beast boy said softly. Cyborg had told him minutes afterward practically skipping even though nothing had really changed.

Star blushed again. Below her, the washer finished filling up, and the hot water clicked off. It began to hum.

"Oh,"

was all she said. Beast boy looked at her. There was a clock on the wall adjacent to them. It ticked away the seconds rhythmically. Tension grew slowly built up between them. Starfire looked down into her hands which lay clasped in her lap. B felt compelled to say something. Especially on Robin's behalf.

He would've said something against Robin to cheer up so she wouldn't look so sad and lonely, about what happened, but on the other hand, he didn't think that she needed another reason to hate him.

He decided to go with something subtle. Just a little hint.

"Try not to hate him too much,"

Crap. That wasn't what he was going for. She sighed and looked at him.

"I don't hate him," she said solemnly, as though she wished she did.

Beast boy wasn't going to give up so easily. "Well don't blame him either,"

Star eyes narrowed.

"What are you saying" she asked, not unkindly.

"Well," said Beast boy choosing his word with utmost care, aware that he was in uncharted waters.

"I'm saying that you should give him one last chance. I mean," he continued "Boys are stupid. Their minds are slow. It takes them forever to get an idea into their heads and even longer to do anything about it. They think they understand girl's minds, but they don't. Take it from me. Then of course, the timing was all wrong, too."

The dryer slowed to a stop, and Beast boy hopped down.

"So I was just thinking," he said as he was up to his waist in the washer, retrieving his dried uniforms, "that you should give the guy just one more chance not to screw things up. Again." He straightened up.

Suddenly Star's arms were around a surprised Beast boy. "Thank you, Friend." She whispered.

"Any time" Beast boy stuttered.

Starfire watched him march from the room with an armload of newly dried uniforms.

**I know, it was short. Tough cookies. But the next chapter is going to be cool so sit tight until I can type it up. While you are waiting you may review. **


	23. Something always has to go wrong

Starfire passed back and forth in her room. Her emotions were running around like crazy. She didn't even know how she felt herself. She tried to count her emotions. There was anger, sadness, confusion, and guilt.

Mostly guilt. She knew what had happened hadn't been her fault, but there just wasn't any use in denying that she hadn't kissed Robin back with just as much or more passion and eagerness. Or that she didn't enjoy it. Why had she done such a thing while she was perfectly happy with Red?

_But it isn't my fault!_

She wailed in her head as she flopped backwards onto her bed.

_I mean,_ she reasoned with herself, _I wouldn't have even kissed him back at all if he wasn't such a damn good kisser._

She rubbed her temples. Whatever Robin did, he always managed to make her feel guilty.

* * *

Starfire and Red X had just left. The door was still swinging shut behind them.

"I don't like this," Robin said unhappily.

"Believe me," Raven said in her usual monotone, "We've noticed."

"Well I don't like it either" Beast boy called from the couch, where he was watching Cyborg play video games, "I don't trust him; we don't even know who he is, or how he got Robin's suit!"

"Wish I never made that damn suit," he grumbled.

"It doesn't matter," Raven said, "Starfire is happy with him, so none of you are going to say anything about it."

There was a few seconds of silence.

"Well I still hate that guy," Robin mumbled.

Meeeeeeeanwhile

Red X and Starfire were walking around the park. They were arm in arm. The day was perfectly picturesque, birds sung overhead, and the weather was perfect. Clusters of flowers lined the pathway like lace.

The irony was amazing. The weather was the exactly the opposite of Starfire's feelings. A storm raged inside her. She knew it was ridicules, but she still felt bad about shat happened between her and Robin.

"Cutie," Red X said for the third time in a knowing voice.

"Hmmm?" she said absently.

"Are you ever going to tell me what's on your mind?"

She turned to face him, "Nothing is wrong!" she said quickly.

"C'mon," he goaded "I can always tell when there's something wrong with you,"

She hesitated; this conversation was headed into dangerous waters. For a moment she just chewed on the ends of her red hair.

"I'm going to find out eventually," he said and crossed his arms in front of his chest, and shifting his weight to one foot. Starfire regarded him carefully.

"You aren't going to be happy. . ." she said slowly.

Red X didn't move.

She let out an exasperated sigh. "Fine," she said reluctantly brushing the hair from her mouth. She was looking everywhere but Red X. The sky, the ground, the trees, the flowers, the birds flying overhead…

She had no idea how Red X would react. She hung her head from shame. He would not be happy, that was for sure.

"Well, last night, after you left" she trailed off slowly.

"Yeah," said X.

Starfire took a deep breath. She looked at the dirt under his shoes, scattered with stones. She imagined she could just fall through the path beneath her feet and disappear. But she had to trust Red X if their relationship was going to go anywhere. She let it all out in one breath.

"So Robin came up behind me, and he was just talking about how dating you was such a bad idea, and then he kissed me," Red X visibly stiffened. He drew himself up but Starfire was not done just yet. She continued to talk in a very fast voice; she wanted to get it over with, like ripping off a band aid.

"And then we were just kissing out of nowhere and his arms were around me and - and it was just –I don't know, but then I pushed him away. Really, he fell down and I, I'm so sorry!" She bit her lip and waited for a reaction, and even though she was scared, she did feel some relief. She hated keeping secrets; she only did so when necessary.

Red X had turned. He faced away from her, his back hunched over.  
"You," he started out slowly and shakily, "kissed him back."

It wasn't a question. It was more of an accusation.

Starfire felt horrible. She knew he was going to be upset.

"Yes," she said barley above a whisper, "but, I promise I did not mean to!" She placed a hand on his back, which he shook off.

"Just leave me alone" he said

She put her hand back on his shoulder. She was never one to leave her friends in time of need, and now was not going to be an exception.

"Please understand" she said in a tearful voice, but she never got to finish.

Quick as a heartbeat, Red X spun around to face her. Her caring hand was wrenched from his back. His eyes were narrowed. Before she could make sense of this, his hand had been placed roughly on her chest, and he used all his force to push her away from him, onto the ground.

Dirt sprayed up into her face and eyes. He hands which had been put out to break her fall out of reflex, had been scraped. Rock bit into her arms and legs. A tear came out of her eye, and mingled with the dirt.

Neither moved for what seemed like hours. Slowly, she rearranged herself so that she was sitting back on her heels. She tried to rub the dirt from her eyes. The simple truth ran through her head. Red X had shoved her. Into the ground. It hurt in every sense of the word.

When she stood up on her shaky legs, she felt the unmistakable sensation of Red X's arms wrapping around her.

I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," he whispered in her ear. He held her close, as if he had not just pushed her. He kissed her exposed neck, and leaned back to see the expression of hurt all over her face.

"I didn't mean to, you know that, right? Right? You know I would never – _could_ never hurt you." He gave her shoulders a slight shake, trying to shake an answer out of her. "I was just upset to hear that you had been kissing Robin, that's all. Tell me you forgive me, please?"

Starfire was so confused. She wanted to leave, but she could not fly. Red X's hand swooped down to scoop up a bunch of the flowers lining the path. He presented them to her.

The corner of her mouth twisted up a little. He had just been a little upset, and it was fitting for it had been upsetting news. Anyway, he had not done her any physical harm.

They finished their walk, and Red X was super nice to her. He also bought her an ice cream cone from a local parlor, along with an extra large bottle of mustard. The rest of the day passed wonderfully, and Starfire pushed the incident to the back of her mind.

**I know, it's been awhile. I've been busy. But now I am going to ask a favor of you. Please go take the poll on my profile. But first, review!**


	24. A half a chapter!

The sight of Red X casually lounging on the couch, or rummaging through the fridge, and even making out with Starfire in various locations, eventually became a normal sight. Just like Robin cooking more frequently, and Raven reading more then meditating. The tower had undergone a time of change, and now it was back to normal. Well, OK, things had calmed down, at least a little, but things were far from normal.

Slowly one by one, teammates became used to bumping into Red X in hallways and around the tower, not that they liked it. They slowly accepted the fact that there was nothing they could do about Red X and Starfire dating. It's actually funny, when you thought about it, how things had changed. Just a few weeks ago, such a situation like bumping into Red X the hallway, would have raised a huge alarm, complete with reinforcements. Not to mention the suspicion of titans tower being infiltrated, and raised security for months.

But now, it was just an awkward figure you had to put up with or feel the wrath of Starfire.

The only person who did not relax at this arrangement was Robin. Sure, he was being nice and cooking and making Star's heart beat fast, and acting normal, and doing anything and everything to get back the heart he lost. Just like old times.

But whenever Red X walked into a room he tensed like an attack dog facing a suspicious stranger.

This person in question was sitting at the table, staring at the tabletop and trying not to nod off. His head rested heavily on his hands. His eyes dropped down. His body begged for sleep.

He had slept like a baby. A baby that woke up every five minutes. His pleasant night had been filled with dreams of Starfire being kidnapped and tortured to death as he was forced to watch, but could do nothing, and she screamed to him for help in a horrible voice filled with pleading as her masked captors applied burning white hot pokers to her arms and sides.

**To Be continued. Just hold that thought. **

** This is not the end of the chapter, this is only the first half. I didn't get to finish it, but I felt really bad about not updating in _forever_** **so, I decided to split the chapter in two, and this is the first half. Go ahead and yell at me for not updating, I wanna hear about it.**


	25. Day of birth part 2

_Okay, here's part two. how about a little refresher? When we left off, Robin was sitting at the table mourning over the fact that he likes Starfire, but she is dating Red X. And also he had a bad nightmare. And FYI I don't own teen titans. I know that might come as a surprise to some of you._

Red X (out of the kindness out of his heart) had taken Starfire out to breakfast that particular morning. So luckily, Robin would only have to cook for himself. Oh, and the party tonight. It was Beast boy's birthday. So they were having cake and stuff. It was taken for granted that Red X would be tagging along.

The thought of himself, the team, and and Red X sitting around eating cake and watching Beast boy open presents was enough to make him have a headache.

A knock on the door rudely dragged him from his routinely and daily cursing of Red X. Grumbling he went to answer it. The space in the doorway was taken up by Speedy.

"Hi!" he greeted enthusiastically.

"Hey," Robin stiffled a yawn, "Whadda doin here?"

"It's Beast boy's birthday, right?" he asked "I came to wish him a happy birthday," he explained as he surreptitiously tried to look around Robin and into the tower.

"Uh, yeah, come in,"

Speedy entered the tower causally, slowly turning to gaze in all four corners of the room. Robin was silent, as casually walked in, and looked behind the counter. Obviously there was something he was not saying. He waited Speedy to say it as he calmly observed him with a raised eyebrow. He looked at the tower as if he had never entered it before, although he had been in it on several occasions.

"So. . ." Speedy said in a oh-so-casual voice "Where's Starfire?"

The truth hit Robin like a lamp thrown from across the room. You have to understand, that Speedy agreed with Robin on many things. They often times shared the same opinion. Especially on the topic of villains. He decided to just get it over with.

"It's true," he said blandly.

"What's true," he asked turning around to face Robin.

"I know what you want to know, and it's true that Starfire is dating Red X."

Speedy dropped the dumb act at once. He was the one person who would considered this to be as disgusting and traitorous as Robin did. Speedy sucked in his breath.

"I didn't believe it when I heard it," he said softly.

"Me either," said Robin, even softer, with regret in his voice.

Speedy cleared his throat, "Is he. . . here?"

"No,"Robin assured him "he took Starfire out for breakfast,"

"And are you just gonna. . . let them date?"

Robin held up his hands "What can I do about it?"

"Bee said you pushed him out a window,"

Robin flushed slightly. Everyone just had to keep bringing that up? "Yeah," he said "but I don't recommend it,"

He flexed his arms slightly, but not so that Speedy would notice. The cuts he had maintained from the mentioned above stretched with his skin. They were almost healed.

"I have to go," he said "Bumblebee thinks that I'm just wishing Beast boy a happy birthday, and she'll get mad if she finds out I asked. . .good luck with that though."

He stopped with his hand on the doorknob. "Well, wish Beast boy a happy birthday from all of us. And give him this," he handed Robin a present wrapped up in metallic green paper.

Then he left Robin to his thoughts.

* * *

Best boy's face was illuminated by the light of the candles in the otherwise dark room. He grinned toothily down at the homemade cake. It was three layers tall and covered in mouth watering green icing. Robin had really outdone himself with it. This was most likely because a certain red head had walked into the kitchen, discovered he was making the birthday cake, and had been determined to help him. 

You can easily guess that she had been more of a hindrance then a help. Not accustomed to the earthly ways of baking, Robin had had to help her with every little task. He guided her hand as she measured and poured in the ingredients. Even when she turned on the mixer too fast and the flour went flying out of the bowl, covering the ground like a flurry of snow, Robin hadn't minded one bit. He treasured every moment he spent together with her. He had managed to spend a grand total of two and three quarter hours with her making that splendid cake. They were just cleaning up the mess, when Red X came in and ruined the moment.

His lips moved automatically to form the words to the song 'happy birthday'. Starfire's voice rose higher then everybody Else's. She did love to sing. Raven was refusing to sing at all, but they were considering themselves lucky she even attended the party, much less contributed a present to Beast boy.

Robin couldn't help but notice that Red X kept Starfire clamped to his side 'like a prisoner' he thought. He also knew of the gifts Red X kept bombarding her with. Little presents, jewelry, mustard, he was always taking her out to dinner and other fancy places. Like sick bribes to make sure she wouldn't leave him. When Robin sang the last note of the song, it was deeper then he meant it to be.

Red X managed to drag Starfire to the side, once everyone else was busy watching Beast boy open his present from the Titans east.

While Beast boy was exclaiming over his new video game, Starfire felt a tug on her arm. She turned around, and it was Red X. He was gripping her upper arm. Gently he tugged her to the side.

"Will you meet me tonight?" he asked her in a low, husky voice.

Star's eyebrows creased together. "But, I just saw you yesterday, and this morning, and tonight! And don't forget about our date tomorrow!"

Red X's grip on her tightened, but not a noticeable amount. "I know," he said softly, "but I miss when you used to sneak out to see me, it was sexy," he kissed her right below the ear, his hot breath on her neck, She giggled in pleasure.

"Okay," She said.

"Thanks Starfire!" Beast boy called from the other side of the room, holding up the soy milk and tofu bacon Starfire had gotten him.

She walked over to him and gave him a famous bone crushing hug. "You are welcome, friend! And happy day of birth!"

**Just so you know, it was originally longer, but then I lost the whole thing and had to rewrite it. And unfortunately, I don't think it came out as good as the first time. So blame the computer. I thank all of my reviewers. You guys are the best. Thanks for not yelling at me for the half-chapter. I don't know when I'll be able to get the next part up, it might be awhile, sorry. In the mean while, review please.**


	26. I'm late, I'm late!

Starfire's hand dragged on the hallway walls. This was partly because she enjoyed the feel of the wall's paint running smoothly under the very tips of her long fingers. It was also because she needed something to guide her as she walked along in her more-asleep-then-awake state, and she leaned on it as she moved along.

She passed each of her friends' rooms. From Cyborg's room there was just silence. If you listened very hard, and was very quite, you would hear the purring of his computer. When she passed Beast boy's room, she could hear him snoring softly. When she passed Raven's room, she heard soft murmuring. You could just hear her chanting, over and over again, "Azerth, Metrion, Zinthos." Starfire felt sympathy for her friend. She knew this meant that Raven had had a disturbing dream. This rarely happened, for Raven hardly ever dreamed.

When her fingers brushed the cool metal of Robin's door, she lingered, but she couldn't have told you why, exactly. She heard more murmuring, and for a moment, she thought it was Raven again. But this was certainly different from Raven's even chanting. This voice was weak, defenseless. Desperate.

Without any further thought, she entered.

To anyone one on the outside, The titans, especially Robin, consisted of the most dangerous and powerful teens in the world. They feared nothing, and could easily take down any opponent. Even to the titans, Robin was tough. The one that kept them in line, and scheduled training sessions to keep them in top shape. Robin, who often went too far trying to catch Slade, and was willing to do anything to keep the town safe. Ready to make any sacrifice, except perhaps, the one that was made for him. When people pretend to be something their not long enough,other people end up believing it.

So when Starfire saw Robin, he looked very out of place. He was covered in a layer of sweat. He wore only red sweat pants, without a shirt. He still had his mask on. The sheets were tangled with is legs and arms. His hair was in disarray. His hands twisted themselves into the sheets, and he struggled against invisible enemies. Every visible muscle in his body was tense and shaking.

But the oddest thing was the look on his face. Robin never looked so. . . afraid. He had slightly parted lips coated in glistening sweat, and each breath was ragged.

He moaned and panted. And then, he spoke. Spoke isn't the word. He begged.

"Please," his voice was a whimper, "please, don't - take me instead,"

Every ounce of breath left Starfire's body. She didn't want to see Robin this way, it seemed wrong. as if she was barging in on something private, which, she probably was.

She sat on the very edge of his bed, trying not to disturb him. It didn't work. His head gave a sudden jerk to the left the same time as he took in a sharp breath of air. His sweaty chest rose up and down.

"No, stop it!" he said "Take me instead, Take me instead!" He was panting, "Let her go! Stop it!"

His muscles twitched. He jaw clenched.

"Robin," Starfire called softly, trying to rouse him. She put a hand on his shoulder.

He jerked away, "I can't, I can't, I'm trying!"

She kept trying, "Robin. . ." she called gently, "Robin. . ."

"Stop it!" He yelled, at the same time, he sat bolt up right, as if someone had just used a megaphone next to his ear.

His sweaty hair stuck to his forehead, and stuck up at odd angles. He and Starfire were barley a foot apart. His eyes were wide and he breathed heavily. His arms were wrapped around himself. Luckily, his mask was there so he could hide behind it.

They started at each other for a whole fifteen seconds. Robin looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Or a child, with his hand in the cookie jar. He had so much fear in his eyes. Then he flung himself into the comfort of Starfire's arms.

She didn't see that one coming either. She had braced herself to yelled at, or even thrown out, and then he flings himself at her.

She did her best to recover from this unexpected turn of events. She rocked him slowly back and forth. She stroked his back with one hand. The other hand was in his hair. She tried to sooth him, by saying "Sh, everything is alright," but had no idea if it was actually working. She couldn't move because he had wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his head in her lap. She could help but think how strong his arms felt, and how secure she felt. . .how much she liked the feeling of his face buried in her stomach.

She had to shake her head to clear it.

"Everything is fine," she said, stroking his head, "It was just another one of your nightmares,"

Oops. She didn't realise her mistake until it already came out of her mouth.

Robin sat up slowly. His arms were wrapped around himself. He looked at the bed.

When he spoke, he looked at the mattress. His voice cracked. "How. . .?did you. . .?"

She hastened to explain herself, "Yes, I have know about your nightmares for ... for quite some time now. I... I never said. . .I heard you calling out to you parents and . . . you never woke up. . .I am sorry I did not tell you, I did not think that you would. . .you sounded so sad. . .so I never said anything."

The didn't move, he only gave a slow and comprehending nod. Everything seemed to weigh so heavily on his shoulders at this moment. The loss of his parents, right in front of his eyes, and Starfire.

She was the only one that he could ever possibly open up to. He was so detached from his emotions, the only way he could deal with them, was if he ran from them. And when he was asleep they could bombard him with everything he refused to acknowledge in his awakened state. Starfire was the only one who understood him, or could help him. The only one he had ever in his entire life been so close to. And it scared him to death. Now she was in the arms of another person, just out of his reach, if only he had been brave enough to grab her.

He hardly remembered his parents, besides some hazy memories, and their images. He had one picture of them together as a family. Since then, no one had been able to break though to him, until Starfire.

His mask hid the first few tears. They flowed from his eyes. He was ashamed. Robin? Crying? This simply wasn't possible.

But it was happening. Starfire reached out, and wiped a tear from his face with her thumb. He didn't move.

"Robin," she said.

He shook his head. Why, he wasn't quite sure. She pulled him back into her lap and continued to rock back and forth slowly.

His shoulders shook with silent tears. He had never been so emotional before. It was odd.

"They're gone," he sobbed.

"Shhh," she said softly, "I know, I know,"

Starfire did her best to help him. She rubbed his back, and shhed him. Her fingertips glided smoothly over his sweaty back, feeling the developed muscles. The other hand comfortingly stroked his damp ebony hair. She rocked back and forth, slowly saying things like "Shh, it is ok, everything is alright," She had no idea if she was doing a good job. Mostly what she was doing she had picked up from earthly movies she watched. She had not had to help anyone in this way before, and no one had tried to comfort her. Her heart was boiling over with some swelling emotion she couldn't identify. Was it pity? Compassion? Sadness? Love? It could have been any of them. She had no idea. It seeped into her veins, and soon she felt it all over. It made her tingle, and shiver although she was not cold.

After a while, he fell asleep right there, with his arms still secure around her waist, and his wet tears on her stomach. She laid his head as gently as she could onto his pillow. He looked much more peaceful now. She could help but let a smile take over her lips as she watched him. Robin was the leader of the team, but to see him here so fragile, and so exposed, it was exhilarating.

She was so tempted to just lie there with him by her side, all night long. Just to watch his breathing and the slow rise and fall of his muscled chest, and fell the adrenaline run races in her body. But there was a nagging in the back of her mind. When she saw the glowing numbers of Robin's alarm clock, she was filled with dread, and panic.

She was an hour late to meet Red X. Would he be mad? She couldn't help but remember that he pushed her. But hadn't she forgiven him for that already?

With much reluctance, she moved from Robin's side and out the door. The absents of his body made her cold, and she shivered. How would Red X be when she got to him? Would he understand an explanation? Or would it be better to make up an excuse and say she slept in late by accident? But that, would be lying. Were not earthly relationships supposed to be built on trust? But is it acceptable to lie if it is going save you from harm? Did she really think that Red X, whom she loved, was going to harm her?

Things were so much simpler when she was watching Robin cry. She wished she were back with him.

She tried to sort out theses thoughts as she flew towards the beach.

**I know, this whole scene has been done a million times. Sorry I couldn't resist. I was going to update sooner, but I was busy. I was also going to tell you about Robin's nightmare, but I figured you were bored of those. **

**Sorry for not updating sooner. Review now. **

**I have a new poll, go vote. (Please)**


	27. Dead ends

**Thanx for the wonderful reviews!! (all five of them XD)**

**Anyway, I don't own teen titans and stuff... Here's the next part. **

He was smiling. I could breathe again. He was smiling, and in a good mood.

"Hey, Starfire!" standing up from his sitting position on the sand, he grabbed me into a one-armed hug, and buried his face in my hair.

I didn't say anything, but hugged him back.

"I was so worried,"

"Worried? Why?" I asked puzzled. I pulled back to look at him. His smiled wavered.

"Because," he explained "You're late, and I was worried about what could have kept you so long,"

My breath stopped in my throat. He was not so happy after all.

"oh," I said. I did not know what else to do.

"What's wrong," he asked "what kept you?"

I smiled, and waved the issue away as if my hand was a broom. "It matters not, I was delayed slightly,"

He raised an eyebrow, and for the first time, I wished I was better at lying. "For an hour?" he asked doubtfully, "Starfire, you can tell me,"

Two small armies crashed insider her. One yelled 'Be honest!' the other shouted 'You must lie!' Gears shifted in my head. I had to say something! He was waiting for an answer! he never was very patient. In that way, he was a lot like Robin. Neither of them had any tolerance for betrayal.

So I had to be truthful. I looked at the ground. I focused my attention on a rock half buried in the sand.

"well, I had to, uh, help Robin with something," I said, trying to be as vague as possible.

"with what?" he asked between gritted teeth. I could not revel what I had actually been doing! Not that it was anything bad, but it would be the height of corruption to tell of Robin's nightmares. Imagine the embarrassment if someone outside the tower found out. Robin would never forgive me, this was after all, the secret he guarded the most.

When I did not answer, Red X gave my shoulders a little shake that made my head bob back and forth. "Where were you?" he asked, rougher this time. I looked at his face. It was close to mine and filled with some wild emotion. It could have been panic, but I could not identify my own emotions lately, so I did not trust myself to guess his.

"I just had to talk to him about something," I said slightly shrilly. I whished that he would let me go, his grip was becoming stronger.

"For an hour!" He yelled this. Then he let go. I almost fell backwards. I had to throw my arms out so to regain my seance of balance. He observed me from the safety of his mask.

His jaw was clenched. "I waited for you for over an _hour!" _he said, clearly angry. His voice grew and grew until it blossomed into a scream. "And you give me some stupid _excuse!_ Why are you lying!? _What were you doing with Robin?!"_

I couldn't help but take a step back. In response to this, he took a giant step forward, placing himself in my face. He was so loud. . .and angry. I shuddered. I knew now what he was speaking of. He believed me to be kissing Robin behind his back. This thought was absurd. I would never do this. It would be dishonest, and looked upon with much shame and contempt on my planet. It was so crazy, I laughed. Was this all that was bothering him? I could easily set this right. All that fear for nothing. What a silly girl I was.

Bad move. When he caught my smile, and my relived giggle reached his ears he grew mad. He glared at me.

It speared my heart.

He turned away from me, and toward the sea. He was shaking, and his hands were fists at his side. My fear returned.

"Please," I spoke softly, wishing desperately to be anywhere else but here. . . "I - I have not done 'the cheating' upon you, Red X, please believe me. I speak the truth,"

He did not move. My heart ached to comfort him. I reached my hand forward toward his shoulder. Before it got there, I remembered what happened last time when he was so . . .upset.

My hand dropped.

"Perhaps," I suggested timidly, looking at the sand again, "You need some time to . . .be alone,"

An angry (and very loud) scream reached my ears quickly as Red X whipped around, "Oh, so you wanna leave me too, huh!?"

Before I even had time to look up, I was upon the ground. My cheek, was stinging as if it was attacked by a swarm of bees.

My hand reached it. It was hot to the touch. My brain could not function what had just happened. I remember thinking, _"What has happened to my cheek?"_

Therefore, I was unpreparred when the second hit came.

A boot connected with the side of my mouth. I rolled over. I spat out blood. I stared at it. This made me cry. Tears mingled with spit and blood. A word repeated again and again in my head. "_Why, why? I do _not _understand,"_

A minute went by.

He sighed, like he had better things to do.

"C'mon Star, get up," he said. I was angered when he said this, but not for a logical reason. _"Nobody has ever called me Star exsept Robin," _I thought.

My brain tried to get my legs to move. It failed.

So Red X reached down and yanked me up by my upper arm. I knew it left a bruise. The corner of my mouth was bleeding slighly. Like when you scrape your knee. The inside of my mouth was bleeding more then the outside. It left a disgusting taste.

"You're fine Starfire," he said. "You're ok,"

I believe he was telling himself more then me.

His arms encircled me again. I did not move. He brushed me off shortly.

"I'm just disappointed you cheat on me, Starfire. But don't worry about it, I forgive you," His touch had turned gental, and he lightly kissed the cheek he had kicked.

I trembeled as if I had just thrown up. "But I did not cheat in the first place!" My voice was weak and it cracked.

He frowned, and wiped away some tears. "Why don't you go home and rest up?" He suggested lightly, "I'm sorry we didn't get to spend more time together. If only you have been on time. . Well, Good night,"

I flew back to the tower in. . .I don't know what to call it. The emotions inside of me, I did not know their names. I did not know what to make of what just happened. It was like it had been an awful dream, yet the pain still remained. I thought of Robin, still sleeping so peacefully in his bed. I cried. The tears streaked down my face. They dropped onto the ground, creating little puddles filled with my grief.

It was a good thing I reached the tower, otherwise I would have crash landed.

While Robin now slept peacefully, I cried, and screamed into my pillow.

Now what was I supposed to do? Every where I turned, there was a dead end.

**Hmmm. . .was that depressing? Did you like it? I know it was a little weird, and kinda short but. . .**

**PLEASE REVIEW!! PLEASE!**

**flames excepted. **


	28. freakin' ray of sun shine, isn't he?

If you have ever tried to come up with an excuse, which I'm sure you have, you also know that it isn't easy as some people make it out to be

If you have ever tried to come up with an excuse, which I'm sure you have, you also know that it isn't easy as some people make it out to be. So I'm sure that I don't have to tell you that it was exceptionally hard for Starfire, only being on earth for a total of three years.Excuses scuttled through her head like runners in a race, each one worst then the last.

Cyborg had given her a box of make up for her first birthday on Earth. That day all the titans watched as she twisted the cap off of every little pot of glitter, powder, and lip gloss. She opened every little case of eye liner and examined every tube of lipstick. She exclaimed over everything, joyful at new earthly discovery.

Raven had been the first one to get bored of watching Starfire try every little thing in the kit. Beast boy and Cyborg soon followed suit. But Robin had stayed with her the entire time. He laughed at talked with her, and corrected her when she attempted to put lipstick on her eyelids. Even answering all her questions as well as he could. He didn't know how well he had done, who can explain why earth people do not wear the make-up their arms, if they already wear it on their faces?

She had not had a use for the make up since then, but now, it came to the front of her mind. There had been some sort of skin-toned powerdy. . .thing, hadn't there?

She dug around the cabint under her bathroom sink to find it. The Kit was bigger then she remembered. She pawed through the box looking for it, making a mess while she was at it. What had Raven said it was called? Something to do with a house. . .foundation. That was it.

She carefully applied it to her face. She blended it in to look as close to her skin color as possible. The brush was smooth on her face, but it made her want to cry.

She stood back to admire her handwork. It was obvious. The make up was too dark. She busied herself in spreading it out more. There, that was much better. You could hardly tell.

She turned her face to examine it from all angles. Yes, that was good. You could barley see the scratch. She looked down at her upper right arm. The bruise was only starting to show. It looked pale purple now. She only brushed lightly over it. There was no use in covering it up now, you couldn't see it unless you looked directly at her arm anyway.

She left the cosmetics on the counter. She would need it again tomorrow. Immpaintly wiped a tear away from her face.

A knock on her door made her blood freeze.

"W-who is it?" she asked

"Hey Star!!" replied Beast boy happily, "You're awake!! I knew I heard something!! I'm glad I'm not the only one awake! Anyway, I couldn't get to sleep either, and I'm bored, do you wanna play video games or something?"

Starfire glanced at the clock. It was 2 : 35. She could help but smile a little. This was just like Beast boy, always playing video games.

"C'mon," Beast boy goaded, "It'll be a really late game of mega monkeys 4,"

"I do not think that I wish to . . . I have not played an abundance of these video games and I am not sure that I know how to. . ."

"Oh, C'mon, I'll teach you! You'll be an old pro by the time we're done! Oh Please, I'll be all bored if you don't! Do really want that on your conscience?"

Starfire knew she wouldn't be able to sleep again anyway.

And that, my friends, is how our good friends is how Beast boy finally convinced Starfire to play video games. We all knew that this was coming eventually, and the day had arrived.

So thats why Beast Boy was sitting on the carpet trying his best to teach Starfire the consept of gaming.

Just in case you have never tried to teach an alien how to play mega monkeys four, Beast boy would appreciate it if I told you that it is not as easy as it sounds. In fact, it is very difficult.

"So, press the 'A' button to jump, and the-" Beast boy glanced around at her while putting in the disk "no, no, no!" he cried "you're holding it upside down. "

He took it out of her hands and turned it right side up for her.

"Alright, like I was saying, dude, B is to attack, and A is to jump and X to-"

"But I am not understanding," Starfire cried, completely lost, "I have always jumped and attacked before without pressing any buttons. . .,"

Beast boy started at her, open mouthed, and completely amazed. In his little world, it was completely impossible that anyone would not know how to play video games. "Ok," he said "Lets start with something a little simpler. . ."

Time crawled by. Eyelids drooped. They stayed awake with volumus amounts of soda and sugar filled goodies, including pixie stix, brownies, and m&ms.

Starfire improved on her gaming skills greatly. In just a few hours, she was able to complete level six. Then the sugar rush came to an end, and energy levels came crashing down. Their eyelids gaven into gravity. They were both asleep on the ground, despite the glowing TV brightly flashing them 14 different colors, and the volume was up at least three quarters of the way.

That's exactly what Raven found when she came in the room that morning. It almost gave her a heart attack. (Not that she showed it) Trash was piled around the two. Soda cans, M&m wrappers, a bottle of mustard. . .

Despite the sickening site of Beast boy drooling all over (literally, haha) Starfire's with her hair all fanned out, even in his face, she rolled her eyes and ignored them. They were all tangled up in a manner that suggested something else. She also did her best to ignore Cyborg who walked in next, and promptly laughed his head off. Instead she just sipped her tea.

"Better not let Robin see this," he said seriously, "He'd flip his lid, C'mon help me, move them. Into a less discriminating position at least."

"I am not lifting Beast boy anywhere,"

"Well at least help me throw this trash away, make it look less. . .dirty," which sent him into another fit of giggles that he concealed behind his hand. He went over to the cabinet and plucked out a trash bag.

He was halfway through the giant mess when Starfire rolled over in her sleep. Her arm was exposed. The bruse that was light purple was now deep dark and blue. And completely obvious.

Cyborg gasped.

"Raven, Come look at this." he said, trash bag forgotten.

She walked over and "Whoa," she said, "That looks like it hurts."

"How do you think Starfire got such a big-"

Enter Robin. Cyborg stopped in the middle of his sentence. Too bad Robin had heard.

"What? Starfire has such a big what?"

He came over. His face gave nothing away as he examined the bruise. "What. . ." he muttered, "how did. . ."

He gently ran his fingers over it, so lighly goose bumps appeared on her skin "Cyborg," he breathed, "can you find out what caused it?"

Cyborg rolled his eyes and made a sarcastic sound, "Yeah, let me run a complete bruise analysis, c'mon man, get real. Don't you think you're getting a little over protective? She could've gotten this anywhere. Right?"

"No, and no," answed Robin stiffly.

"Well don't jump to conclusions, Let's just wait till she wakes up," Raven said.

"Yeah," Robin said distractedly. He cupped his hand under her arm, to examine the bruise mor thuroly.

Starfire gasped, and sat up, wrenching the arm out of his hand.

"Starfire," Raven said questioningly, "you wanna tell us where you got that bruise? It looks pretty nasty,"

"Oh," Starfire blushed, and her heart sped up. She rubbed her eyes and her head. She muttered, and blinked a lot. She had not settled on an excuse yet. Her brain was still fuzzy with sleep. She shook it, moving into a More comfortable position. "Oh, that" she said carelessly, as if she couldn't even feel it (which she did - a lot) "it looks a lot worse then it really is . . ."

She had heard Robin say that once about an injury, so that the team would let him continue to fight. All that had gotten Robin, of course, was four stitches in his leg, which a grumbaling Cyborg administrated along with a lecture.

"It looks" Said Robin with a face like stone "like it hurts,"

"A lot," he added more softly as he looked Starfire in the face, and tried to get some sort of an answer from her. She looked away.

Starfire bit back a wince and looked at her hand. "I am fine, thank you, friend" Robin's eyes narrowed. Had this been there last night?

"You never told us," Raven asked "what caused it." Just leave it to Raven to ask the worse questions.

"I was doing some comat practise," Starfire lied, looking directly into Raven's eyes, "and one of our newly installed missile launchers caught me on the arm," she added a small smile on the end, which was not returned by anyone.

"Now, I do not feel well, I believe I will retire to my room," She didn't meet anyone's eyes as she maneuvered around Beast boy, Raven, and Robin to get to the door.

"I don't like this," Robin announced, "Raven can't you. . .do something?"

"What do you want me to do Robin? break into her mind, and invade her privacy? Leave her alone, she'll be fine,"

"Yeah," Robin spat, "she seemed real fine!"

"What, don't you believe her, Robin?"

"No," he said darkly.

"Ughhh. . ." Beast boy moaned, sitting up and holding his head in his hands

"Dude. . ." he said feebly, "My head throbs like a -"

"Shut up!" Robin spat out before storming from the room.

"Well, he is just a ray of freakin' sun shine todya, isn't he? Beast boy muttered.

**I know I haven't updated in a while, but I've been increadibly busy. I will be busy next week as well, so sorry. Also 'too perfect' is the next one to be updated, so it might be awhile. So. . If you're reading this at all, I REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY want you to review. So do it. Or I will hate you forever.**


	29. Be careful around spazzy villians

**Disclaimer: I don't own teen titans.**

**Before we begin, I'd like to thank my faithful reviews, (otherwise known as the coolest people in the world) Cartoonstar, ChristianandGatorGal, yumithebutterfly, and tennisgal456, who reviewed to the last chapter. **

**I don't want to sound . . . mean or mad or anything, but if this story is on 22 people's alert lists. . .shouldn't there be 22 reviews? C'mon it'll take you four seconds to review so just do it. **

**So, Anyway, the next chapter. . .**

Ok, it had been twenty minutes. Twenty agonizing minutes. Surely that was long enough? His feet turned automatically in his well trodden path. Even the carpet was slightly warn where he had placed his feet so many times, on numerous occasions. The memories of many villains were beaten into this rug. Slade, Adonis, Slade, Terra, Slade, The brotherhood of evil, Slade.

Fraying strings were sticking up out of the carpet and drooping over, like arms trying to grab him and make him stop. This was one of his worst habits. Pacing. Whenever he was feeling. . .any kind of emtion, he paced, rather then trying to deal with it. I think he got it from Batman. It felt good to always be doing something, to have an action to do, so he wouldn't just be sitting around and wallowing. It was also a good way to avoid having to actually deal with emotions. Soon he was going to need a new rug.

As he passed the clock he glanced at it. It's hands proudly pointing to the time. Twenty _one_minutes. That was plenty of time to wait to confront Starfire about that big ugly bruise. He briskly walked through the door. Hoping against hope that she would trust him enough to tell him the truth. Or tell him what he knew he really wanted to hear deep down inside. He hoped she would tell him Red X did it. Wouldn't he just _love _an excuse to beat the crap out of that guy. Raven kept telling him not to jump to conclusions, but he couldn't help but want to beat the guy up, with his grimy hands just pawing at his Starfire. . .well, pawing at Starfire.

He knocked oh her door loudly enough to wake her up if she was sleeping. She didn't miss a beat.

"Come in," she said in her usual light, and happy tone. He did. She was making her bed. "Hello, friend!" she said.

"Hi, Starfire," he said. He walked over to the other side of the bed and began to help her pull the covers up and smooth them out. She gave him a brilliant smile that made him grin back at her.

"Thank you, my friend. Please tell me how I may be of assistance to you." she said while tossing a pillow at him to put on the bed.

He didn't say anything, his smile fading, but looked down at the pillow. It was white with pale pink stripes on it. He put it on the bed, and fluffed the edges slightly with his fingertips. Starfire waited for him to talk patiently. She had expected him to come.

"how did you get that bruise on your arm?" he said, making eye contact, well ok, eye/mask contact.

"Have I not already told you?" it was her turn to look down, smoothing the wrinkles on the bet sheet, "I was-"

She was not going to tell him the truth. Robin's heart didn't have time to deflate before her cell phone rang. **( AN if you don't know what I'm talking about, it was mentioned in the earlier chapters, that she has a pink cell phone and blah blah blah go reread chapter ten)**

It was obvious who was calling her. Who else would call her on that phone but Red X. It really was a pointless object to have, when you thought about it. Who would call her besides Red X? But one day, Starfire and been watching TV with Robin, and when the commercial for it came on, she squealed with delight, and exclaimed over the 'small little devise'. Robin had to ask Raven to buy it for Starfire, for her birthday. It was a pointless object to have, but Robin had an unavoidable soft spot for buying anything her heart desired.

"uh, huh' Starfire was saying into the phone, "No, I don't believe so," she said with a cold tint to her voice, as she sank down onto the bed.

"Starfire, what is it? What does he want?" Robin asked, "Does he want you to meet him?"

"Who's that?" Starfire heard into her ear, "Is that Robin? Is he in the room with you?"

"Uh, yes to you both." Starfire said.

"Tell _Red X_ you're busy," Robin growled.

"Tell _Robin_ to get lost," Red X snarled.

"Please," Starfire said with her head spinning slightly. She took the phone away from her ear with one hand, and with the other, pressed a finger to her (tempting) lips while saying, "Robin, shhh. I cannot hear," Then she placed the phone back to her ear and began talking to Red X in a tentative voice, "No, Red X I do not believe I will be able to see you today,"

Robin sighed in relief, feeling like he just won a battle.

"Why? Is Robin not letting you out to play?" asked Red X.

Starfire bit her lip, "It's not that, I just, I do not believe that I will be able to see you today,"

"What?" Red X was practically frantic "What, are you saying! You don't want to see me anymore! What's going on? Have you been cheating on me? Why is Robin in the room with you, It's him isn't it? How could you do this to me?!"

"No no no," Starfire was desperately trying to calm him down. All Robin could do was cross his arms and frown. He was only hearing half the conversation. "I course that isn't what I meant, I have not been,-"

"I can't believe you're breaking up with me! I love you! I can't live without you! What am I supposed to do?! You can't leave me! Is this about last night? I told you I was sorry! I'm sorry!! I'm sorry! Why can't you forgive me!? I'm sorry I'm such a failure!" Red X was almost shouting, he sounded completely hysterical.

Robin couldn't hear what he said, but he could hear Red X's frantic, muffled voice. "What's going on, Star?" he asked suspiciously.

"That's Robin, now, isn't it?" said Red X, "I guess you guys have been screwing around, huh? That's why you're breaking up with me?"

"Red X," Starfire said in a soft, calm voice, ignoring Robin's question, "That is not true. How could you say such a thing? I am not breaking up with you, and I don't think you are giving yourself enough credit, and of course I forgive you, and if you truly wish for me to explain-"

"Why can't you just come over and see me?" Red X asked in a snuffly voice. He had calmed down now that Starfire had begun to reassure him.

Starfire sighed, and began to absentmindedly trace shapes onto the comforter of her bed, "Ok, I'll come and see you,"

"Alright," Red X said, "I'll be waiting for you,"

They said their good byes, and hung up.

"You're going to go see him." It was an accusing statement.

"Yes," her head was hung low, as if she was ashamed.

"Starfire," he was about to start into another lecture. He was going to say something along the lines of how Red X was not good for her, and how maybe she shouldn't trust him that much. . . but he knew it wouldn't stick. He knew Starfire was just a naturally trusting person, and she didn't think that anyone would ever say anything they didn't absolutely mean, 100. That's one of the reasons he loved her so much. He knew she would stand by Red X's side saying that 'He's a good person, really,' and nothing would actually change at all.

So instead, he just went with, "be careful, ok?" in the most caring voice he could summon.

She put a hand on his shoulder. "I will be," she said. She seemed to mean it too.

And then, she was gone.

Robin sighed sadly, feeling like he just lost a battle. Or an entire war.

**I know, it's short. I was going to make it longer, but that would have taken more time and I wanted to update the story because I updated the other one I'm writing twice in a row. **

**So Review, please. **


	30. Checkmate

**I know, I said I would update, like, two weeks ago. I am so sorry. I have been SO busy. I'd tell you the things I've been doing, but 1. that would bore you 2. I don't feel like it and 3. let's face it, who really cares anyway? So, I apologize for being so late on the updating front. I also apologize it Star seems a little OOC here.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own teen titans. **

**Starfire's POV**

I came home that night, accompanied only by the new bruises scattered accross my arms, legs, body. . .

I used my window again this time. It was easier then being asked questions. I was strong enough to fight him off. I know that. I am not unaware of the fact that I easily could have thrown him off, and through a wall, without breaking a sweat. Truthfully, it is rather hard to reach my powers sometimes, when I am. . .being abused. I do not know why this is, but I have a few theorys.

Maybe it is because I am afraid. Not afraid of him, but afraid of hurting him. It would be too easy to break him. Physically, or mentally. I could injure him if I try to firght back. And if I even suggest subtly, anything along the lines of breaking our relationship, he becomes very upset, hurt, even angry. It sounds wrong, but I do love him. Is it perhaps wrong to love one who inflicts so much pain? But, after all, I loved Robin, and he hurt me more then Red X ever will. Besides, it is my own fault. He has told me himself. As he hits me, he will tell me, "This is all your fault, you know. It's your own fault," Except, I have yet to figure out what I did. Besides, how could I feel righteous fury, if I don't deserve any righteousness. And unbridled joy? When I have so hurt the one I love that he must beat me?

Some might not understand how I could love him, after he hits me. Red X helped me, when I was alone. He comforted me, and held me, when I was alone. He explained to me why Robin had - would never love me. He told me he loves me. He has seen my tears, and weaknesses, and we have shared such intimate memories, he says he can't live without me. He gives me lavish gifts all the time, it would be cruel to break his heart. We are in love. It is not his fault I make such mistakes. Besides, with Robin out of the picture, he is the only one I could ever love. After all, they are so alike, in many ways. . .

Honestly, I look for Robin inside of Red X. He pops up, randomly. Sometimes when he is being kind, or when he says one of Robin's motto's. Like one time, Red X was just sitting there, reading a newspaper. I closed my eyes. So clearly in my mind, I could see Robin in his place. I would not admit it, but Red X came second to Robin. In almost every way.

I surprised even myself when I discovered that I see Robin and Red X are most alike when Red X is angry. Their rage is similar. Even though Robin was seldom mad at me, I can see the similarities. When Red X yells at me, it is the same as when Robin used to yell at Slade. When Red X grips my arm to tight, I think of Robin. It is hard to put into words, so I'm not sure anyone else would know what I mean. But, they are the same in many ways, and different, at the same time. I do not like it when Red X hits me, I do not like the pain. But, when I see Robin, sometimes it is hard to keep from smiling.

After Robin rejected me, I tried to avoid him as much as possible. We never mentioned the night he yelled at me. I thought that would be the last time I could ever feel any love for him. But I can not seem to stop thinking about him, even when I do not want to. I leaves a hollow place in my chest.

Despite what anyone says, we grew distant, the team and I. It was easier to avoid questions. So I mostly stayed in my room. Raven, Cyborg, Beast boy, Robin, they all came knocking, doing their best to get me out. They wanted me to play stank ball, meditate, work out with them, play cards, volley the ball, go to the beach, Raven even offered to paint nails, go to the mall, do my hair, anything. I appreciated her attempts to help me. They really did mean a lot. But as time passed, they just gave up, figuring I'd come out when I was good and ready. Robin continued to knock though. It was my turn to tell him to go away.

Really, it is too bad he does not care for me, my Galfore would adore his persistence. He would much approve of Robin being my - well, it is just too bad.

Red X liked it when I was by his side. He told me he liked knowing where I was. Soon he began to call almost ever hour, demanding to know where I was and what I was doing. It seemed, the more time he insisted we spend together, the more I pulled away from my tight knit team. They could not figure out how to stop it. Now none of them liked it when I went out with Red X. Even Raven thought that I should 'take a break' is how she phrased it from behind my door.

I could never tell when Red X would hit me. There would be absolutely no warning. One thing I had learned, though was a mention of Robin equaled a immediate beating. Red X was afraid that I would leave him for Robin. He was afraid. . . of Robin. When I mentioned him, even in passing, I got the worst beatings. The pain, I can not describe it. It hurt to breath, it hurt to move. It stung, it ached, it pounded. I could feel my heart race, and blood pound though my body, keeping me alive, for what? more pain? afterwards, all I could do was fall onto my mattress, and float into oblivion.

He face, when he came at me, was horribly contorted. I barley recognized his usually handsome features. In the few seconds I had, I would brace myself for the pain, turn off my emotions, and try not to feel as he pounded me. I would be sore for days after ward. I used more make up in half a month, then I had my entire life, but it worked. My bruises and even black eyes, were not visible. The only problem was when someone would bump me in a spot where I was injured, and I had to nearly bite me tongue off to stop myself from yelling.

Robin's nightmares were getting worse. I could not find sleep when he was having one. He would yell, and whimper, and beg with enemies I could not save him from. I wanted to help him so dearly, but I could not. I hurt too much. that one night, I held him, and shh-ed him, and comforted him, and rocked him, all the while knowing that he would never be mine to love. It was like a stab in the side. Too painful. That was more painful then anything Red X would ever do. While Robin screamed, I would pull into a ball, and try to block out the noise, and try to block out tears.

I didn't know now much longer this would - or could - go on. I did not see an end in sight. I had to do something, my teammates would not be blissfully unaware forever. I did not know what my next move could be. Would could I do? If I told someone, they would surely try to hurt Red X.

If this was all an Earthly game of chess, I think the opponent would be inclined to say 'checkmate'.

**Hmmm. . . do you think that Starfire's a little OOC in this chapter? I do. Well, anyway, Review, please.**


	31. All the way home

**disclaimer: usual rule applies.**

**Please see notes at bottom, almost all of them are important.**

Beast boy pressed his face into a grimace

Beast boy pressed his face into a grimace. The stakes were very high, indeed. Carefully bracing himself for the hit that was about to come, he spread his feet apart and gripped the doorknob cautiously, like it might burst into flames at any moment. He took a deep breath. Then, in quick succession, he squeezed his eyes shut threw his free arm over his head for extra precaution, twisted the handle and pulled.

Nothing could have prepared him for the blow that came.

An avalanche came down upon him, and he was buried completely.

Just like when you get knocked down in an ocean by a giant wave, he didn't know which was up, and he clawed desperately through piles of junk to find a way out.

His head broke the surface, and he stood up as well as he could. He gazed across the vast dunes of old and not needed clutter, before pawing though it. He shifted giant piles of junk, it had be here _somewhere._ It had to be, or he'd be in trouble. . .

There it was! He found it, lying just beyond the singing and clapping monkey. He pounced on it. He held it up and waved it around over his head triumphantly.

"Ha!!" he said proudly, wading over to the doorway where Raven leaned casually, and falling twice in the process.

"I told you I owned a book!" he said with a smirk and frantically waving 'Green eggs and ham' under her nose obnoxiously.

"You _so _owe me a soda!" he laughed evilly, and fell backwards into years of collected junk that had been stuffed roughly into his closet.

Raven rolled her eyes, but played the good sport and grudgingly tossed him a can of soda. Beast boy let out an "Oof," as it made contact, not too pleasantly, with his stomach.

"Don't strain yourself trying to read it," Raven muttered walking away, as Beast boy looked starry-eyed at his well earned prize.

* * *

Starfire was in much the same situation, except unfortunately, much more serious, despite her promise to Robin that she would be careful. She was covered. Unlike beast boy, she defiantly knew witch way was up, and no means of escape presented themselves to her. She wasn't covered by junk, either. The pressure on top of her was crushing. Red X was not supporting his weight, but lying heavily on her. Being a Tameranian, it did not hurt as bad as it should, but when he pressed into a bruise or cut, she couldn't hold back a sharp gasp.

Hot breath enveloped her face, making her feel encased, and trapped. Somewhere in her head, where her brain still functioned properly, she knew she had to stop this. This did not feel . . . it was not . . . she didn't like it. But he pushed down on her from everywhere above. It was dark; she could barely make sense of where she was. Her brain was fogged up, she couldn't think. Red X was distracting, and panic begin to set in.

'OK,' she thought to herself, 'it's ok, just take it slowly. That's what Robin always used to tell -' she groaned. Like she needed to think about Robin at the moment. Red X thought her groan was from pleasure, and he continued to lick and suck at her neck with more enthusiasm.

Below her was a bed. She could feel the springs pressing into her back. That's right . . . she was in Red X's house. Well, if you could call it that. It was actually more like whichever hotel he was "crashing at" at the moment.

Leave. That's what she had to do. Get out. What would her team be thinking if they could see her like this? Beast boy would probably throw up. The thought almost made her smile. She wished that he was here now. He would do something to help her. He would save her. She wished that Robin was here.

She closed her eyes. Home, she told herself, you will be safe at home.

She took a deep non-calming breath of warm air. Then she did her best to sit up. A sweaty hand covered he stomach, and applied pressure to make her lie back down. The hand slid down and began to play with the hem of her skirt. Yes, Red X was not inexperienced in this field, this she could tell. She also knew that Red X knew how to get what he wanted. This was not a good combination.

She tried to make her voice heard. It came out a pathetic whimper. She took another breath. "X," she managed to croak.

He grunted, but he was more concentrated on his mouth slipping lower and lower then his own supposed 'love of his life'.

"Please – stop," she said in a whisper, "I do not like – I do not wish to -"

Red X cut her off. "Shhh, it's ok," he said soothingly, which made Starfire try to wiggle out from under him frantically. His hands, surprisingly strong, held her steady.

"Don't you love me?" asked his lips against her collarbone, with a slash authority in it.

He was not going to give up easily. Adrenaline began to rush, and panic became the dominant emotion.

Starfire started to shake. It's not like this hadn't happened before. Red X had tried to convince Starfireto sleep with him a few times already, but it had never been like this. He'd never gone so far. Even as Starfirethought it, she could feel his hand, slipping under her shirt, and playing withthe edges of her bra, slipping the corner of his thumb underneath it, and testing the barriers. When she asked him to stop, he was supposed to. It confused her, and scared her.

She plaved one hand on each of his shoulders. she more pressure applied, the more he leaned downward on her, applingmore weight onto her. Suddenly, his hands were attacking her clothes, and ripping them off. He grabbed a handful of her top and pulled roughly. The purple fabric tore, and lay broken beneath her.

Starfire's eyes grew wide. Red X was looking hungrily at her pink laced bra, like she was a sandwich off the dollar menu, and he hadn't eaten in a week.

"I will ask you one more time to please, stop!" She couldn't help the anger that seeped though her words.

He laughed softly and ignored her, saying softly, "C'mon, baby," as he slid his hand down her stomach.

She closed her eyes. A tear slipped down her smooth cheek. This wasn't fair, he hadn't left her a choice.

She sucked in a breath, he wasn't going to like this. Using just the right amount of strength, she grabedRed X, and threw him off, all in one smooth movement.

For a split second, she saw him crumpled on the ground, with herself leaning over him, and she could help thinking how odd it looked. Things were turned around. She was usually the one on the ground.

Next thing she knew, she was pawing at her shirt, and trying to put it on, even though it was hopelessly ruined. Then it was like an explosion went off in her mind. She only knew one thing: Get out. Run. This was the most important thing in the world. Nothing else mattered, not even the fact that she was shirtless. She could only think, that if she stayed here, it would not be good. Red X would hurt her, she had to leave!

When Red X rolled over and started to get up, and she spotted her escape. The window was only a few feet away. She stumbled over to it, as panic ran a course through her vains. Her red hair swung behind her as she tried to push up the glass. It was latched. Her fingers flew to the lock, and they crawled over it trying to unlock it. In a moment of inspiration, she grabbed the cold, hard, metal in one hand, and tore it off the window with a horrible splitting noise. Her hands were already on the glass and pushing upwards, even though she certainly hadn't told them to do so. It was up a quarter of the way, when she heard the footsteps.

_Wham! _black spots swirled around her vision, as the room spun, and her head collided with something solid. Red X had tackled her from the side.

And hand was on her head. It grabbed a handful of red hair, and pulled. her head came off the floor, and she had just enough time to look into his cold, dark, eyes and find no absolutely reason or mercy to console herself with in them. Then his fist connected. She fell backwards a few yards.

Her head made contact with the floor, and began to ache. Her hair was splayed out behind her as she lay on the floor, on her side. She curled into a ball. Her arms covered her face, and her legs pulled up to her chest. It was best to just wait it out like a bad storm.

She felt Red X's shadow draped over her like a limp sheet.

When he spoke his voice shook. "You are mine," he snarled to her. A hard kick was delivered to her rib cage with that little statement. She only moaned and pulled tighter into herself.

"You belong to me!" he shouted, "And _no one _else!"

Roughly, he grabbed her upper arm, and pulled her up from the ground. She let herself go limp in his arms. Her head fell backwards, eyes to the ceiling.

"Understand?" he hissed into her ear. She groaned and he let her slump to the floor, and he half heartedly nudged her leg. "useless," he muttered "absoulutly worthless. This is your own fault, you know,"

The Gordanians used to call her useless and worthless.

Red X circled around her, evaluating her her bruised and scratched body. If she was so broken and useless why did her want her anyway?

Nothing happened. Starfire assumed his rage had been expelled. She rolled to her stomach, and very slowly and cautiously prepared to get to her hands and knees. Just as she was about to stand up, Red X put his shoe in the middle of her sore back, and pushed her face down into the wooden floor. She heard footsteps walk away.

There was an explosion out of the deathly silence. He had thrown a bottle at the wall. It shattered easily, onto the floor, glistening like teardrops. The next bottle was to close to her for comfort. She knew he was purposefully aiming for the floor next to her to scare her, but the room was dark and it would be easy to miss.

He turned her over onto her back, rolling her away from the glass. Starfire had a spark of hope that went out as soon as a hand slapped her face. A few slaps, some more puches to the face, and chest, and arms. . .She tried to block out this remarkable pain, as well as ignore the pounding in her head, and the ache in her heart.

He picked her up deposited her on the bed, intent upon beginning what he started. "I will show you your place," he muttered.

Then she was saved. The feverish hands on her waistline, faltered from the knock on the door.

A kind lady, in her mid - thirties stood in the doorway. She had dark brown hair, and curious eyes, which were trying to peer past Red X, and into the room. She wore short pajama bottoms, and a pale pink tank top.

"Can I help you?" and Red X in a mannerly voice.

Starfire was more then willing to seize the opportunity. She rolled off on the bad, landing catlike on the floor.

Mrs. in the doorways was explaining, "Well, I was wondering- I did hear some smashing, and yelling and - is everything okay?"

Starfire knew she only had precious seconds. The window inched upwards, thank God - not squeaking.

"I assure you, everything is fine," Red X said, beging to close the door. Thank goodness for that ladies nosy-ness: She stuck her foot in the doorway.

"I'm positive," she said, "I heard some yelling,"

Starfire was already climbing on the windowsill, but would she even be able to fly? Her life (among other things) depended on it. She tried to move a few inches from the sill, but she couldn't, not even a centimeter.

"It was the TV turned up too loud, I'm sure. I apologize, I didn't know the time . . . I promise to turn it down," He slammed the door shut, and began to turn around.

Starfire shut her eyes, and imagined Robin bursting through the door in a terrible rage, ready to save her from Red X, and take her home to the tower. Liftoff, and not a second too soon. She was out of there, beaten, bruised, and scared out of her wits, but out.

Tears streamed down her face. Things were getting worse, and she was still trapped. What was she supposed to do? She would not be able to live in her room forever, and she would not be able to avoid Red X. The only escape she had was Tameran. Nobody would be able to get to her there. Maybe, it was time to go _all the way_ home.

**1. I haven't updated in a while, yes I know. I've had finals and stuff. I have been incredibly busy. Now that things are calming down, I'll be able to update more.**

**2. There are a few people that reviewed that I didn't get to reply to since, I was so busy (See #1.) You know who you are. Please do not think that your review went unnoticed, I appreciate it to the extreme. Next time you review, I _promise_ to reply to you.**

**3. My birthday is coming up, so you are practically under obligations to review.**

**4. Tennisgal456 was my 200th reviewer!! Yay!! Everyone applaude!! You win any prize that you can think of that I can actually give you!**

**As always, thank you for reading, and please, review!**


	32. Spilled beans, or should I say tears?

**Disclaimer : I do not own teen titans. Try to contain your surprise.**

"See?" Cyborg said with the superior air he usually got when talking about technology. "It wasn't that hard all you really had to do was disconnect the adjacent wires and -"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I could've done it if I wanted to," Said beastboy with a his arms crossed and a deep pout on his face.

Cyborg rolled his eyes, but other wise ignored his comment. He stepped down and away from the chair that he had been using to reach the security camera that he had been fixing. It hung from the ceiling, and rotated slowly as it rebooted itself. It slowly zoomed in and out on Starfire's doorway, then Robin's doorway, then Beast boy's doorway, then Raven's doorway as it automatically readjusted itself.

"Besides," said Beast boy "You still don't know if you did it right, it might still be broken," he sounded hopeful.  
"Well," said Cyborg retracting a screwdriver back into his hand and dusting them off, "Let's go back to the security room and see if the camera registers on screen, shall we?"

He stalked off down the hall with a pouting Beast boy in his wake, and ran right into Robin, who was coming down the hall.  
"Oh sorry, hey man, where's the fire?"  
Robin continued down the hall, ignoring Cyborg. Then he turned around, through some kind of delayed reaction time.

"What? oh, nothing, nowhere, I was just going to ask Starfire something,"  
Beast boy opened his mouth to make a unnecessary comment about that, but closed it back up. Starfire didn't even come out for meals anymore. He supposed she waited for everyone to go to bed before coming out for food. Robin was not the only one who was worried about her, but no one could seem to reach her so far, she refused to come out, saying she simply 'could not' and noting anyone said could convince her otherwise.

After Cyborg gathered up the chair he used to reach the security camera and left with Beast boy, Robin knocked on Starfire's door...

--

Starfire sat, with her knees pulled up to her chest, in the middle of the chaos that adorned her room. That is only a slight exasgeration. Her room was not really _that_messy, considering that she had just packed, and unpacked, twice or so, she had lost count. Clothes that had been uncerimonisly yanked from the hangers, lay crumpled on the floor ilike broken pieces of glass. A skirt over here, it's matching top lay across the room, where it had fallen off the bed. A lone boot remained half in, half out of the suitcase witch held a completely random array of objects jumbled around inside.

After waking up extraordinarily late that morning, sore and morbid, she taken a shower, to try to clear her mind, as if the cool water could wash the terrible memories from her mind. It hadn't worked.

Shehad broken out the suitcase and tossing things inside, without any apparent system. The result was: a mess.

Two photo albums were tossed inside the suitcase, a third lay open on the ground. She had had the most trouble decideing witch pile these would go into: wanted or needed. She was determined not to forget her friends, no matter what she ran away from.

That's when it hit her.

She was running away.

Galfore would be so ashamed of her.

She had been taught well to look her enemy int the face, and then destroy it.

She felt disgusted with herself, running away, like a coward. She started to pull things out of her suitcase. She had faced much worse things, she would not let this drive her away.

What he had never learned was what to do when she loved her enemy.

Besieds, even if she did the traditional 'breaking up' with Red X, he knew where she was, would he even leave her alone? And would her friends get hurt in the process? Perhaps it was better if she left, disappeared, and got away from Red X.

But even if she did leave, the titans could guess where she fled, they would persue her. Leaving was pointless if she could not escape.

She could not make up her mind. Even if she did leave, it didn't seem to solve her problems. She didn't seem to be able to escape whatever she did.

Finally, she sank down to the floor, where she sat now, "It doesn't matter what I do," she thought, "I cannot escape"

What was she supposed to do? She could not see a resultion to fit everyone. What could anyone do, if the person they loved, they also hated?

She would not leave. There was no point in it. Or, rather, there was no escape in it.

--

"Starfire?" asked Robin tentivly, "Uh, are you in there?"

He mentally kicked himself _"duh, she's in there!" _he thought to himself, _"she's been in there for the past . . . who knows how long, where else would she be?"_

He heard movements beyond the door. He pressed himself up against it, in a vain attempt to be closer to her, and somehow influence her to just come out. . .

--

Starfire stood up, "Yes I am here," she said, doing a pretty decent job of keeping the sniffle out of her voice.

"Starfire," he called as she approahced the door, "Well I was going to take the R-cycle out for a drive and I was wondering if you wanted to come along,"

Starfire smiled, and another tear fell down her face. Robin knew how much she loved riding on his motorcycle. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she had a perfect exuse to hold on tightly to him, and not let go.

She hated to dissappoint him.

She pressed herself up against her door. She didn't know that only two inches of cold metal door sperated herself and Robin.

"I cannot," she said.

Robin was quiet, but she heard him sigh.

--

Robin slid away from the door, leaving his hand on it. He didn't think she'd come out, but hoped that - she did loved riding that motorcycle. He began to walk away slowly, rejected. He just barley caught it,

"I am sorry," she wispered. Robin didn't move, hoping she would say something else, but all he heard was quiet sobbing.

He had half a mind to march to her door, tap in the overide code, barge in there, and demand to know what was wrong, and why she was acting so odd.

But he knew if he did that, Starfire would perpusfully withhold information from him. She didn't like if when she was forced to do things, and she wouldn't appreashiate it if he barged in on her.

She knew he was more then willing to listen, he had done his very best to make that abundantly clear, all he could do was hope that she trusted him enought to tell him.

_"We're doomed, then,"_ A morbid voice in his head moaned.

Another voice spoke up, _"Shhhh!, don't think that! You'll jinx it!"_

The absents of Starfire must be driving him mad. Robin had never been supersticious before.

--

Raven was going to kill whoever had knocked on the door, and inturrupted her meditation. Beastboy had already tried her paitenince, and now someone thought it was a good time to pay the tians a happy little visit. Someone was going to be punched in the face. She yanked the door open with unneeded force.

"You are coming at a _very_ bad ti - Oh, it's you." Raven hadn't noticed it before, but Red X was a good two or three inches taller then her.

He leaned nonchalauntly against the doorway - unaware that he had very narrowly avoided being punched in the face - with his arms crossed against his chest. "Starfire?" he asked shortly and in a bored tone.

Raven compiled her answer carefully. "she, uh, she's here, but she won't come out of her room,"

Red X pushed himself off of the doorway, standing up straight and uncrossing his arms. "Really?" he asked. He sounded as though the fact intrigued him. As though, he liked having this odd power over Starfire. Beneth his mask, he smirked.

Raven stepped aside to let him through. She didn't want to, but if she tried to send him away, it would cause an unnessasary scene. Besides, maybe Starfire would come out for Red X.

Red X strode confidently through the room, to the door. Raven frowned and closed the door behind him.

"It's down the hall and -"

"I remember," Red X called exasperated, without looking back.

Strangly, the room - and tower for that matter - seemed almost, contaminated somehow, to Raven knowing he was here.

--

Red X knocked on the door.

"Robin," called her muffled voice, "I do not wish to -"

"It's not Robin," growled Red X.

He heard her gasp. The doorway slid open. Starfire's head looked both right and left, checking that here were alone. No one else was in the hallway. She stepped out. The door shut behind her.

"Has Robin been bothering you?" demanded Red X "I swear I'll kick his scrawny ass!"

Starfire, whose gaze was on the floor beneath her, looked up in horror. "No, no," she said, putting both her hands gently on his arms, he jerked away from her. "He hasn't been a bother," she said softly, her voice hiding obvious hurt. She looked at the floor again.

Red X gave a cold crazed laugh, though Starfire couldn't figure out why. "You've been hiding something from me," he said accusingly.

"No, no, I have not." said Starfire hurridly, shrinking backwards.

Red X raised a hand, and Starfire involenterrly flinched back. She turned her head away, her eyes shut tight, prepared for. . . anything. Her hands were raised in her usual half-hearted attempt to protect some part over herself.

Red X chuckled softly but dangerously. He moved his hand to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear. Starfire did not relax, even cringing more at his touch.

Suddenly, his hand movining almost too quick to catch the movement, he had her face in his hand, holding it tightly, painfully. He scrutinized her face carefully.

Starfire's eyes carefully avoided his face.

"Your face is covered in bruises," he observed, with a slight tone of amusement in his voice, "It's rather disgusting,"

Starfire didn't know how to respond to this and avoid getting beaten again at the same time. Her hurt filled eyes looked onto his, and she searched him for some sort of sign. She didn't know exactly what she looked for. A shred of decency? A spark of something he used to be? Or perhaps, just a small sign of love.

She couldn't find anything. And he was holding her face very forcefully. It hurt. Her vision, clouded, and she couldn't help the tear that slipped down her face, and touched Red X's hand softly. He recoiled as if he had been burned. Starfire didn't look away from him. More tears fell to the floor, absorbed by the carpet.

Red X sighed in annoyance. "Absolutly worthless," he muttered, so soft it was almost inaudible.

He started to walk away, but stopped. "Meet me at my apartment in five minutes," he said coldly.

He left. Starfire did her best to stifle the sob that rose up. She sniffed, and stumbled hap - haphazardly into her room, having to put in her pass code twice, do to her shakeing hand.

--

Cyborg and Beast boy started un-blinkingly at the screen in fascination, eyes wide in utter disbelief. Neither one dared to move an inch. Cyborg reached out and stopped the camera from recording anything further.

"Robin," he called soberly into his communicator after whipping it out, "You better get in here. Quick."

**Well, gee, I am just evil aren't I?**

**sorry for any spelling errors.**

**Okay, I am going to change the name of this story. And I know, you're all rolling your eyes and going "Again?!" but, yes I am, so sorry.**

**I am pretty sure that the new name will be checkmate. Someone suggested it to me, but I don't remember who and I'm too lazy to check, so if you could tell me who it was, I'll mention special thanks to you in the next chapter.**

**A million and twelve thanks to everyone to reviewed. You are the reason I continue to write this. **

**Thank you for reading, and please review!**


	33. Heh, heh, heh, Red X is gonna GET IT!

**It's about time I updated, huh?**

**SPECIAL THANKS : to erifrats101 for suggesting the name checkmate! Yay!! Everyone clap!! Bravo!! **

****

disclaimer: I don't own teen titans

* * *

If there was ever a time to be afraid of Robin, it was now. Beast boy couldn't help but inch away from him a little as he watched him watch the video.

His fists were clenched, and his jaw set firm. His gloved hands gripped the edge of the table so hard, they were shaking slightly. The video rolled on, and and he only grew more stiff and tense. You could see his jaw clench and unclench. There was a deep frown etched in his deathly still face.

"Your face is coved this bruises," The sound of Red X 's voice flowed out of the speakers like poison.

"It's rather disgusting"

Robin's eyes narrowed beneath his mask, and he growled deep in his throat. When the tape came to an abrupt halt, nobody moved.

"aaaaaAAAAAHHHHH!!" Robin's yell grew to an intimadating, and almost unbearable high, weaved through with rage, as he smashed his fist onto the counter with a painful sounding thump, whipped around and stormed out of the room, his cape flapping ceremonially in his wake.

Beast boy and Cyborg shot each other nervous glances at each other before barreling out after him.

--

"What is it?" asked Robin skidding into the room the room. His eyes scanned the room for any signs of distress or evildoers before settling on Cyborg. He was re-winding a tape, and Beat oy was looking at him anxiously.

"You have to see this, man" Cyborg said soberly, pushing play, "It. . .it was just filmed."

Robin walked up to the edge of the counter and leaned on it, to view the video better, wondering what this was all about.

There was a short burst of static as the clip began. An image of Red X sauntered up to Starfire's door. He knocked.

Starfire's door slid opened. Cautiously, she slipped out.

The world stopped spinning. Robin sucked his last breath back in and held it. His eyes involuntarily went wide.

He had no idea.

Her poor body was covered in a sickening amount of bruises. It was difficult to spot a place on her body that was uninjured. One eye was black, her lip was swullen and busted. There was a prominent and nasty looking gash right above her black eye. There was a slight limp in her step. There tight arm hugged her abdomen, perhaps canceling more wounds? Or maybe there just to herself from falling apart.

Even worse then the obvious pain she was is, was how she carried herself.Her shoulders slouched forward head down. She positively dropped. She wasnt' even herself anymore, something deep inside of her had broken, she was like a puppet, who's strings kept it's lulling body propped up.

he silently watched. Anger swirled and clashed inside of him like an unstoppable, boiling Whirlpool. It flushed through him, blocking out everything else, leaving only a burning all consuming hate. He was Starfire shrink smaller, drawing backwards, trying not to be seen.

Red X reached out and Starfire flinced - actually flinched - away from him. Unbelieveable.

_What did he do to her?_

Robin clenched his jaw. He didn't notice how hard he was gripping the counter until a stabbing pain ripped though his hand, muscles begging for release, but he did not relinquish his hold. Red X was going to pay.

Suddenly, so quickly that Robin almost missed the movement, Red X had Starfire's face captive in his had. He looked like he was examminging her. He reminded Robin of a 1860's slave driver looking for another worker.

He held her face firmly, painfully. Starfire didn't cry. There were so many bruises layering her face . . .

'_stop it!' _Robin thought frantically,_ 'Stop it! Why isn't he stopping? Can't he see he's _hurting _her!"_

he told her toe bruises on her face were disgusting. Bruises he obviously caused.

Robin was going to kill him.

They were looking at each other now. Star gazed at him with eyes that had been dulled. She stared at him with such intensity, it scared Robin.

Her eyes were pleading with him - asking for something,. Neither one moved. Apperently Red X wasn't giving in.

That made Starfire cry. A single glistening gemstone fell down, brushing ever so lightly against his hand.

He jerked away. Starfire stumbled backwards, thrown of balance after being released so suddenly. She tried to collect herself. Red X called her worthless, and left.

Starfire's whole body shook as she retreated inside her room.

The tape clicked to an end.

For a moment, Robin didn't move. Then he let himself scream, something he'd wanted to do for awhile, as he turned around.

Red X was going to pay.

Whatever kind of pain he had caused Starfire, Robin would have the pleasure of making him pay times ten.

**Hmmmm. . . that's a little too short a chapter. Sorry, guys.**

**Incase you couldn't tell, I did the scene twice. Once, quickly from Beast boy's point of view, and then again, from Robin. Sorry it came out so . . . short.**

**You'll have to excuse my little leave of absents. I'll have to work harder to update more often. **

**Thank you so much to reviewers!! **

**Speaking of reviewing, could you please do so? **


	34. totaled TV

Robin was at Starfire's room in a matter of seconds. He didn't bother to knock, quickly typing in an override code. The doors hissed open, but on one was there to greet him but a huge mess. Some sort of What he guessed was a Tameranian suitcase was on the bed, a mix of things inside. He took a few steps into the room, taking in the mess. There was a crunch, and Robin quickly lifted up his foot to see a crushed pile of silver. It took him a while to realize that it was - well, used to be - a butterflynecklace.

Oops.

He frowned. Obviously, she had already left to meed Red X. He turned without a word and strode quickly from the room, not looking back.

TT

"Cyborg, I want you to get me Starfire's coordinates, _now._" he said harshly as he walked down the hallway, not even bothering to glance back at Cyborg who had already scurried off.

"Beast boy, go get Raven, see if she can contact Starfire telepathically,"

Beast boy swapped forms for a small bird and flew off. Robin burst into the garage, and to his R-Cycle. He straddled it, revved the engine, and was off, leaving a trail of dust and raging fury behind him.

Raven and Beast boy morphed through the floor to join Cyborg, who didn't miss a beat in searching for Starfire. Raven was already in her classic meditating position.

"I've got her!" cried Cyborg happily. As if he had heard, Robin was on the TV screen.

"Where is she?" he demanded, as if they were the ones that beat her up. Cyborg sent him the location, and Robin was gone.

'I've never felt Robin so angry," commented Raven from the air.

"Yeah," Beat boy agreed profusely, "he's scary!"

"Raven, BB," said Cyborg from the door, beckoning them foreword, "C'mon, we gotta go help Robin!"

They followed him out the door.

TT

As soon as I arrived I knew I was in trouble. He stood waiting for me with his arms crossed. When I knocked on the door and he grabbed my arm and yanked me in, while simultaneously muttering loud enough for me to hear that it was 'about time' I arrived. I was pulled in and let go so suddenly I stumbled, almost falling. I managed to catch myself at the last moment.

The room was dark, no lights had been turned on.

Before my brain could process what happened there was a blur and something had slamming into my back. I had been pushed against the wall, and Red X's heavy body was keeping me there. His sick breath on my face, and hands grouping in places no one had _ever -_

"You're nothing," he spat "You belong to me!" his voice sounded frantic. I wished he would _stop touching me._ "tell me who you belong to!" He growled. I gasped as his hand glided over my -

"Tell me, please," he said in a shaking furious whisper, "who you belong too,"

"I -" I began "I do not belong to -"

I was pulled roughly from the wall, and slammed into it again. My head banged painfully into it, most likely bruising it again, and his fingers dug most painfully into my shoulders.

"TELL ME!" he screamed to my face. My ears protested at his loud tone of voice. MY eyes shut automatically. It was easier not to argue with him, it would be better just to tell him what he wants to hear.

"Yes, yes" I gasped, "whatever you say!" hoping he would release my shoulders.

"That's right!" - he said almost giddily "that's right," his hand went back to work, and I bet my bottom lip to stop myself from wrenching his hand away and run screaming from the room.

He leaned in close, so his mouth reached my ear. He whispered into it, "and I am going to show you just how much you belong to me."

I am not as uninformed on these subjects as some people believe me to be. I knew what he was talking about.

Before I had a chance to refuse, I was slammed onto the bed. My eyes had gone wide, though I don't recall telling them to do so. My breath was short, though not by the means of the 'pleasure' Red X was trying to elect from me. My limbs and brain were not functioning together properly, I must have Cyborg look at that when I get back. . . I was not thinking straight.

I took too much concentration then it should have to sit up and put my hands on Red X's shoulders. He stilled, and looked at me.m "What?" he asked, sounding distracted. I can barly see his face, it is so dark in this room.

"I do not wish to-"

Suddenly his face is inches from mine, I can just see the outline of his features. I wanted to light up a starbolt, just as a means to see, but he probably wouldn't like that.

"What!" he says frantically, "don't you love me?!"

I close me eyes so he won't see them glowing. I was getting annoyed, how many times am I going to have to tell him that I am not cheating on him? I answer his question without opening my eyes.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I-"

Because I had my eyes closed I didnt' see it coming. Next thing I know I am flying through the air, and crash landing into the TV.

It shatters, of course. I can feel glass, biting into my back, and head. A warmth spreads over me, and I am mildly amused and happy with this new heat, untill I see the red staining my uniform. And realize it's blood.

Red X had thrown me into the TV that comes with his hotel room.

He takes a step forward, and I panic. I need to leave, to be anywhere but here. I struggle, but it is painful to move.

Suddenly, the room explodes with new light. The door has been thrown open, and a red green and black streak launches itself at Red X.

Then Robin is there, rolling around on the floor wrestling Red X, not even bothing with hand to hand combat.

"Don't - you - touch - her - you - fucking - bastard!" Robin is yelling.

'hmmm, that's funny,' I remember thinking, 'Robin never told me he lived in this hotel.' the black fog in my mind wouldn't let me think straight.

And that's when everything went black.

**TT**

**Sorry, if that seemed rushed. This story only has a few more chapters left, isn't that odd? I feel like I've been writing it forever. For a small and disappointing summary of the story I'll be working on next, go to my profile. **

**Review please! (it's your chance to yell at me for the chapter being rushed, short, taking to long to update est...)**


	35. Short filler chapter

_Dark._

_Light._

_Dark._

_Light._

_Dark._

_Light._

Starfire's eyes fluttered open. The first thing she saw was Robin's face hovering in front of a hazy backdrop of the interior of the T-car.

His anxious face loomed over her, and it took her awhile to figure out that her head was in his lap, and his hand cupped her face.

"Starfire? Starfire! Listen to me, you're going to be just fine!" His attention turned to Cyborg in the driver's seat, "Can't you go any faster?"

The car speed up.

It was dark out, and every time the car went under a street lamp, there was a flash of light. starfire clung to the light, it helped to keep her awake through the fog of sleepiness and confusion.

Her brain struggled to remember what exactly had happened. "Red X?" she asked.

Robin frowned, "He's . . . fine," Beast boy snorted, and Starfire saw Robin give him a look.

"He won't hurt you any more, Star," Robin said, his eyes focused on her face.

"Ow," Starfire said blandly. She tried to put a hand to her head, but Robin stopped her.

"Don't worry, everything's going to be ok," Robin gave her smile, but there were lines in his forehead. He didn't let go of her hand, but kept it firmly in his, giving it a little comforting squeeze.

The car stopped suddenly, and everyone lurched forward a bit.

"Nice stop," muttered Raven before unbuckling her seat belt and climbing out of the car.

Starfire felt herself being slowly lifted, defying the laws of gravity, by a pair of strong arms. She was being carried. Instinctivly she turned her body slightly to lean into the warmth.

She was so tired, she closed her eyes, and hugged Robin closer, snuggling into his chest. She must've fallen asleep because that was the last thing she remembered.

TT

_That was the closest I've ever come to-_

Robin didn't even want to think about it. He didn't want to wonder what would have happened if Raven hadn't pulled him off of Red X.

After Starfire blacked out, he had still been ... busy with Red X. He hadn't even noticed the rest of the titans had come in until black energy grabbed him and threw him off Red X. He had already been unconscious at the time.

All he could think about was all the pain he caused Starfire. He wanted to repay him the favor. He hadn't noticed the strain on his arms or his bruised knuckles till later. Red X wasn't moving, and Robin was pretty sure that he had at least one broken rib, but he didn't stop, he couldn't. He didn't want to.

He didn't even notice Cyborg calling his name. Next thing he knew he had been thrown against the wall, thanks to Raven.

She let him down, and he caught a glimps of Starfire, limp and broken looking in Cyborg's arms.

That's when he diverted his attention to Starfire. Cyborg gave her to him to carry, without any words having to be exchanged, and they all piled into the T-car. Raven grabbed Red X, like an after thought with her powers, so they could drop him off at the nearest jail.

He almost looked as bad as Starfire.

Almost.

Robin couldn't help wondering what would have happened if the titans hadn't been there. Would he really have gone as far as to-

He didn't want to think about it.

* * *

**Sorry for the short/rushed -ness, but I felt like I needed to update before I leave, which I am doing. I'll be away till the 9th so there won't be any updates untill after that. **

**Hmmm . . . I think I went a little too far with the whole Star being abused thing, does anyone else agree? Oh, Well.**

**Review please!**


	36. Robin JUST figuring things out

It was torture. Robin always hated feeling useless, and in this case there was little to nothing he could do. It reminded him of his nightmares. You know, the ones where he was forced to watch as white hot pokers were applied to Star's sides...but he tried not to think of those, they didn't exactly boost his spirits.

Starfire lay in the hospital bed before him, half covered by sterile white sheets. Her usual perky purple **( A/N say that five times fast and you get a prize)**uniform had been swapped for one of those annoying gowns like they have at the hospital, except the ones at titan tower were slightly different. They had backs, and were made out of fabric not some sort of flimsy paper stuff. Robin never really noticed how much he loved that uniform till she was put in this dumb gown thingy.

Cyborg had announced that someone had to change her into the gown thingy, and just the thought of it made Robin blush brick red. Raven had been the one to do it of course. As it turned out, they really hadn't needed that gown all that much. Raven had been able heal Starfire, almost completely. She looked a whole lot better then she did three hours ago, but for some reason it was still hard for Robin to look at her.

The bruises now had spaces and gaps in between, like a child with missing teeth, and instead of being mostly black and blue, they were yellowish green, like they were weeks old. The gash above her eye looked like a elongated scab, well on it's way to healing. The black eye that used to reside directly below it, was completely gone along with the deep cuts on her back and scalp that came from being thrown into a TV.

Robin was sitting in a hospital chair right by her bed. He had already fussed with, the pillow, the sheets, the thermostat, and very briefly about her hospital gown.

There was one important thing he'd noticed.

These were the most uncomfortable chairs on the planet. Robin did not know weather he'd be able to straighten his back ever again, it was probably permanently damaged. Robin vowed one of the first things he did when everything was back to normal was buy better chairs for the medical bay.

Robin was hunched over with his eyes resting on the heels of his hands. He hadn't moved in at least an hour and forty five minutes. It was like a game he was playing. See how long you can go without moving. Robin liked playing games; he liked winning them.

There was a prickle at the back of his neck, but he did his best to ignore it. If there was a record for not moving, he was sure he had won. Cutting of his sight with his hands, and improved his hearing. He was acutely aware of every mechanical beep the machine emitted. He knew that he should be grateful that he heard them, it meant Starfire was still alive, but frankly, they were starting to annoy him. Even so, he didn't dare wish that they would stop.

He couldn't even relive his stress with training or phyical activites like he usually would, because that would mean leaving Starfire's side. He refused to do that. Having to just sit there and do absolutly nothing? It was horrible.

The rest of the team had all left. Raven had stayed the longest but had been pretty exhausted after healing Star, and ambled off to bed around two hours ago. Beast boy had been the first to leave. He didn't want to leave, but after falling asleep in his chair twice, as uncomfortable as they were, Cyborg suggested he go to bed. Instead Beast boy had crashed on the sofa, "in case something happends," he explained sheepisly. Cyborg would've stayed too, but he was on already running on emergency power supply and Robin told him to go plug himself in because he didn't want to have to plug Cyborg in himself when he shut down.

Robin was mad at the others for doing normal things like sleeping while Starfire just layed there, but at the same time, he couldn't blame them. He was pretty tired himself; it was early in the morning. If he wasn't so completly and entirely in love with Starfire he'd probably be sleeping himself.

He so desperatly wanted to look at her, holding out hope that something would have changed, a quiet noise, or a slight shift in possison? In the back of his mind, where everything logical was currently being held hostage he knew she hadn't moved, but he ignored that part of himself. He had to have hope, after all.

Even when he wasn't looking at her, she swam before his eyes. Suddenly she was the only thing he could see. He sighed, and made up his mind to sneak a glance. As slowly as he could possibly bare, he counted to 10. Then five more for good measure. Slowly, he lifted his head. His neck cracking from un-use. Inch by inch she came into his line of vision. Apparently, Starfire had been playing Robin's game with him the whole time, and she was winning.

Robin's head flopped back down to his hands. He was full of dissappointment, even though he knew that she hadn't moved. He sighed again, but louder this time, as if Starfire might hear him in his stupor, wake up and offer him comfort.

Time seemed to move at an agonizingly slow pace. He was aware of everything. Each second streached to the point of breaking before the next one could begin. minutes were like hours, hours were enternity's. The only sound was the beeping of the monitor and the tick of the clock, keeping him alert of every one of Starfire's heart beats.

His heart had been ripped out of his body entirly, leaving a deep empty cavern of doom; it consumed Robin. All he could think of was this unrelenting pull centered deep inside of him. He wanted, no needed Starfire with every cell in his body. There was absolutly nothing he wouldn't do to have he wake up.

He was so wrapped up in his own depression he almost missed it. It was the tiniest of noises, a quiet little sniffle.

Robin's head snapped up so suddenly that, if he had been caring about anything else in the entire world at the moment, it would have hurt.

At first it appeared that nothing had changed, and he thought that he must have invented the noise with his own imagination because he wanted to hear it so badly.

But then he noticed, her head was tilted slightly, it had movied! And Starfire was moving. Her delicate hand came up from her side, most likly to grasp her forehead - Cyborg did mention that she would have a killer headache - but Robin intervined it. He grabed her hand, and pulled it into his chest.

"Starfire? Starfire?" It was like a secret code that would make everything ok.

Her eyes were opening, and Robin could feel the joy coursing through his body. Her green eyes locked onto him and she smiled slightly, witch Robin retured with vigor.

"Robin."

He was overjoyed just to hear her voice, weak as it was, but to have his name be the firt thing she said? To have his name be the one to grace her lips and tumble from them like a graceful waterfall? It was beyond camparison. It was probably the best moment of his life.

This statement soon proved to be false however, in the seconds that followed, because Robin simply couldn't stop himself from grabbing her face and attaching his lips to hers.

If time slowed when he was sitting in that chair, waiting for Starfire to wake up, then it most definatly speed up when he kissed her. His mind was going a mile a minute, but he couldn't even come up with a coherent thought. Something had to be exploding behind him or something because how else could this amazing feeling be explained? Then again, even if something was exploding behind him, he wouldn't care or notice. This was most definatly the best thing in the world. He really should do this more often...

Kissing Robin was very different from kissing Red X. I can not explain how exactly, but it just was. There was such a strange feeling inside of me. Nor was it like in the movies I observed, where you can clearly see the two faces coming closer and closer until they connect. It happened so fast that I did not know what was happening until suddenly, we were kissing.

Though, I admitt that my very first thought was 'No, no, it's too soon, I cannot!' But that was quickly forgotten.

It had never felt like this when Red X kissed me. I would have wondered why, but my brain did not seem capable of thought.

Soon I didn't want this to end. I felt as if I was spiraling down an endless hole, like I missed a step walking down the stairs, like I had a rocket strapped to my back and was streaking into the sky with speeds even I had never flown at, like every cell in my body had been set on fire, like my insides were exploding, but all in a good way, if that makes sence.

What a fool I had been, I thought to myself somewhere in the very back of my mind where I still had control of my brain, doing the dating with Red X when everything beyond my imagination and more was kissing my face.

But then again, I had always known that, and it seemed now, that Robin had finally figured it out.

* * *

**I think this was too melodramatic on Robin's part, but oh well. **

**I think there will be one or two more chapters, I haven't exactly figured it out. **

**I tried to make this chapter longer, I don't know if you can tell, and I don't know how well I did with that. **

**Sorry for spelling errors, me and the spell check had a little fight...**

**Lemmie know what you think. **


	37. NOT The End!

**Ok, I know I said that that was the end, but I lied. XD The more I thought about it, the more I didn't like the way I left the characters, so I got an idea and I decided to keep going. It won't be that much longer, maybe one or two chapters, I don't know. Anyway, Sorry I'm adding this so late. \**

* * *

Beast boy sat up and stretched, letting out a huge yawn. After rubbing his sleepy eyes, he opened them, and immediately became confused. He was not in his room, you know where he usually sleeps, but in the main room, and he couldn't for the life of him figure out why.

Until, he figured out why, of course. It came flooding back to him in a tidal wave of memories. His eyes grew wide, as yesterday came back into focus in his mind.

"Oh, yeah," he said to himself, and then he bolted.

He skidded to a halt as the medical wing flew into view. Flinging the door open, he stepped inside. He was greeted by a scene that he always thought would happen eventually, not that he figured he'd ever see it.

There was Starfire, on her side, on the bed. Weather she was asleep, or hadn't even woken up yet he didn't know, but the small smile poised on her face seemed to be a good sign. But the surprising thing about the situation was Robin.

He was also lying on the bed, cuddled up to Starfire's back, his hand over her waist and everything! Beast boy's jaw dropped to the floor, and he was rendered incapable of movement.

Slowly, he reached his hand out behind him, fingers searching desperatle for the doorknob. It was like there was some kind of monstar sleeping on the bed, and he had to get out without disturbing it.

His fingers struck gold, or rather metal, as they brushed against the doorknob, which jingled. Beast boy held his breath as Robin, who had always been a light sleeper due to the paranoid thing, stirred slightly.

Biting his lip, he turned the knob, and took a small shuffle step backwards. He was almost in the clear, he would be able to escape unnoticed if the door didn't -

it squeaked.

Robin was up. He lifted his head and saw Beast boy. Both boys' eyes went wide. Robin sat up and swung his legs over the bed. He walked up to Beast boy but didn't say anything. They both just stood there. Awkwardly. Until the pressure was just too much.

"Hey," Robin said, not knowing what else to do.

"How is she?" Beast boy asked.

"Oh, she's good. She was up, but she fell back asleep," he said guesturing backwards at Starfire.

With Beast boy's concern put to rest, a sly smirk crept onto his face, "Sooo. . ." he began, trying not to snicker, "Are you guys _together _now?"

Robin was just telling Beast boy to shut up when Starfire woke up. She was missing a warm presents behind her.

"Robin?" she called out. She looked up to see Robin talking to Beast boy.

"Oh, hello friend!" she said cheerfully.

"Starfire! You're awake!" Beast boy said happily. He came over to her and gave her a hug, "Geeze, we were so worried," he said conversationally.

Robin stayed near the doorway, leaning against it and watching and smiling. He must've gotten really wrapped up in his thoughts because he didn't even notice that Raven was standing next to him until she spoke up.

"Starfire," she said in her usual flat voice, "You know it was really wasn't a good idea for you to go and see Red X. And what were you thinking? Why didn't you say anything when he started to abuse you? Did you think we wouldn't find out evetually? Robin was already on the verge of breaking down your door to get inside, and -"

"Raven," Robin said in a warning, "stop,"

Raven fell silent with a sigh.

Starfire's face had fallen, her eyes fogged over with dark memories. She bit her lip, and looked down at her folded hands in her lap.

"Hey," Beast boy said, smiling though it was a little more force then before, "It's Ok, Starfire,"

Starfire looked up at that.

"No," she said, "its not the O and K. Raven is correct. It was very unwise of me to go to see him. And to hide what was happening to me from you, my friends. I should have told you, but you understand that I could not because you would have harmed him."

Robin couldn't believe it. After at that had happened, she was going to defend him? Anger surged through him. She was right though, if he had known, he wouldn've beaten the crap out of Red X, maybe even run over him a few times with the R-Cycle. And why not? The guy had Robin's most prized possession and he treated it like dirt. No, worse then dirt. Just thinking about it made Robin want to go back to that jail they had stuck Red X in and beat him up again. He was so busy mentally beating up Red X, he almost missed what Starfire said.

"The fault is mine to bear, anyway,"

"Starfire, what are you talking about?" Beast boy asked. He had her by the shoulders, trying to get her to look up, but she avoided his gaze.

"That is what he always said," her voice was breaking now, "when he beat me. 'This is your own fault, you know,' "

Robin was at her side in an instant.

"No." His voice was so firm and hard, it was almost scary. He was kneeling by her bed, one of her hands clamped in both of his, though she wouldn't look at him eaither.

"Starfire, do you hear me?" he asked tugging on her arm a little frantically, "None of this is your fault. None of it. You understand?"

Nobody missed the tear that rolled down her face, "But," she said "he loved me. He told me he did. Why would he . . . for no reason. . .?"

"Star," Robin began, "He didn't love you, just the idea of you. He was in love with the thought that he owned you. Like a dog that would come when he called. It's difficult to explain," he said more slowly, "why he would do something like that. Too you. And the only explaination I can think to give you is that Red X doesn't know what real love is. No clue. Maybe because he's never been loved, or he has issues, or maybe he's just a heartless jackass, I don't know. But the point is, None of this was your fault. Do you understand?"

He moved one green gloved hand to her face, cupping her cheek, forcing her to look at him.

"Yes," she said shakily, wiping a tear away with the back of his hand, "I think I understand. But I still think that I should have done somthing. It - it just seemed that - I did not know where to turn. I was trapped."

"We're never trapped, Starfire," said Robin softly.

"Sometimes we are." Starfire said, finally looking at Robin so intensly, he had to look away.

Beast boy chimed in, and it was lucky because Robin had run out of things to say "Starfire," he said, "you know that we wouldn't have harmed Red X if he wasn't doing something bad,"

Starfire smilied, looking at beast boy, "Yes, I know,"

_That bruise. _Robin thought _On her arm that day. I saw it. There was proof right in front of my eyes. I _knew something _was going on. Why didn't it enter my mind that it could've been him? How could I have been so _blind?"

_You're not the only one, _It was Raven's voice, inside his head. _Don't you think, that out of all of us, I should have seen this coming?I was blind too. We all were, me, you, Beast boy, Cyborg, Starfire. All of us. I didn't see what I didn't want to because Starfire seemed so happy with him. So don't blame this on yourself, eaither, Robin. But, you know, she wasn't as happy as she was with him, then when she was with you. _

Robin turned his head to give Raven a greatful smile.

His eyes suddenly widened as an unwelcome thought entered his head. Starfire's words rang in his head.

_You would have harmed him. _

_He loved me. _

"Starfire," he said with wide eyes, turning to face her, "You, you don't still love him, do you?"

Starfire took her time contemplating the answer. The thought about, and observed it from all angels before anwering. While she was taking her time, Robin was practically having a heart attack. If she was still in love with him, he wouldn't be able to bear it.

_'Please,' _he thought to no one in particular '_please, I couldn't stand it if she loved him. . .please, not that,'_

When Star had her answer, she turned to face Robin.

"I don't think I ever truly loved him. I think I just found comfort in him. No matter what, I always had someone to hold me, someone I could turn too. However, I guess that did not last too long did it? Then I suppose, it was too deep, I was 'in it up to my elbows,' I believe the saying goes, and I didn't know what to do."

"I would have held you, Star. All you had to do was ask."

"But Robin," Starfire said softly and sadly, staring at him intensly, "I did, and you were not ready,"

She broke the unwritten rule they had by mentioning that. Neither one of them had been brave enought to mention the night that Starfire went and told Robin how she felt about him, and he yelled at her to get out. Robin flinched remembering.

"But," he said, "I'm ready now,"

And, determined to make up for his past actions, he leaned up and kissed her. He grabbed her head to keep her face to his, he wasn't about to let her go after all that had transpired to get her there in the first place.

When he did finally let her go, they stood there, inches apart, smiling at each other, compleatly forgetting that Raven and Beast boy were in the room, too.

Nobody said anything, it would have ruined the perfect moment. They just stood around, smiling at nothing, and probably looking really weird.

That's when Cyborg walked in, carrying a clipboard. When he first glanced up, he looked back down at his clipboard.

"Oh, good Starfire, your up," But then he took another look around the room, with everyone smiling and looking all sentimental, and Robin and Starfire, inches apart and grinning like crazy.

"Aw, hell," he said, sagging, clipboard dropping to his side, "I just missed something really important, didn't I?"

* * *

**Ok, that's not the end yet. I hope you're enjoying this better then the other ending. I tried to make it long(er then usual) for you. Tell me what you thought! **


	38. Testing and failing

**Sorry for the hold up, I've been busy. I wish I had nothing better to do then sit around and wrtie all day, however, that is not the case. Anywho.**

**Disclaimer : I do not own teen titans **

It was official. Robin and Starfire were officially dating. Finally, things in the tower were back to normal. Ok, well, not really, I'm mean, Robin and Starfire had never dated before so things weren't _normal, _but they were better then ever before. No one on the team ever got mad when they caught Starfire and Robin kissing in the Oops room, because it was just so great to see them together. Robin was constantly smiling and laughing these days.

Some people might have thought that it was hasty, maybe even a little slutty of Starfire to swing directly from one relationship right into another, but anyone who knew Starfire knew that she and Robin belong together. It was just natural to see them, they belonged together.

Starfire and Robin were not the only people in the titans network who were officially dating. Cyborg and Bumblebee, who had been dating for a while, just made themselves official. They were constantly getting calls to the tower from Bumblebee. She and Cyborg stayed in touch in in several different ways of communication. The team had grown to be fond of Bumblebee due to her frequent calls, but they didn't mind them , they liked the opportunity to grow closer to Bumblebee.

Especially Starfire. Starfire and Bumblebee really hit it off. They became best friends, and it seemed that Bumblebee called for Starfire as much as she did for Cyborg. They participated in many of the 'traditional girly activites' such as brushing and doing each others hair, painting nails and toenails, shopping, sharing clothes, sleepovers, secrets, even visiting Raven's favorite cafes and hang out spots, the whole nine yards, they didn't like to do anything half-hearted. Sometimes they dragged Raven into they're activities and made her participate, and sometimes Raven participated on her own.

With all these couples and new romance blooming in titans tower, it put a lot of un-mentioned, silent pressure on Raven and Beast boy. It was not easy to detect, but it was there. So I guess, it was only natural what happened next, but it was still a surprise.

Dark. Everything was dark. It usually is in tiny cramped closets with the doors shut and the lights off.

Raven and Beast boy, however, didn't really care at the moment, they were a little preoccupied. Raven could hardly feel the broom handle digging painfully into her back.

So, making out in a closet wasn't exactly Raven or Beast boy's idea of 'romantic' but it worked. It was better then having to put up with any annoying jokes or suggestive comments from Cyborg. It was just easier then having to put up with awkward questions or weird looks or raised eyebrows.

If the other titans knew, they'd never hear the end of it. They'd never be left alone, or have a minute to themselves. It was just better this way, both of them agreed to that.

There was a fly buzzing around the closet, however, desperately trying to find an exit in this darkness. How it had gotten in the tower in the first place, was a hard question to answer. Bugs hardly ever got into the tower by accident. The buzzing had been really annoying ar first, but as things got more interesting and heated, they noticed it less and less.

Raven and Beast boy were connected by the lips. His hands had come up to stroke her face, and her hands were locked permanently around Beast boy's neck in a vice like grip, trying to bring him as close as she could.

Beast boy, who had slipping his hands from her face, past her shoulders, brushing lightly over her shoulders to rest warmly on her hips, suddenly froze. Raven pulled back from him, putting her hands on his shoulders.

"Someones coming!" he stage whispered.

Raven's eyes widened. "Who?" she asked, but she soon found out for herself.

Quick footsteps were heard, along with low muttering, and then the door was wrenched open. Light flooded into the little cramped room. It was so bright so fast, that Raven and Beast boy had to blink furiously and raise their hands to block out some light.

They were looking right at Robin, who stood open mouth, gaping at them. All three of them stood there staring at each other in silence. Suddenly the fly that had been buzzing around that they hadn't noticed, sounded like an open fire machine gun. With the door open, it spied it's way out, and zipped away, to freedom.

Still nobody moved. Slowly as if not sure what he was doing, Robin reached his arm out in between them. Tentitavly, as if it might blow up at any moment, he grasped a role of paper towels. Then just as slowly, he retracted his arm back to his body. And then, all the while not blinking or moving any other part of his body, he shut the door.

Everything was silent, and the world was plunged into darkness once more.

And then they heard Robin's voice.

"Cyborg!!" he shouted, and then they heard his footsteps as he ran away to get the half robot.

That's how it happened that Beast boy and Raven joined the people who were dating in Titans tower.

Starfire was sitting on the examination table, getting another one of her check ups. This happened usually once every two days or so. She would get a once over just to make sure that she was healing all right and that everything was fine. This was not strictly necessary, but Robin very much liked the idea of Starfire getting check ups. He even suggested that they do more examinations, but Cyborg insisted that one every two days was plenty.

Cyborg was looking at several of Starfire's charts, while Robin, who always accompanied Starfire, watched Starfire. He sent a teasing wink in her direction, and she giggled.

"Yeah, ok, you two, stop it with the mushy stuff," Cyborg said without looking up.

Starfire was healing nicely. Most of her brusis were gone, or faded to an almost invisible shade. The ones that still lingered were a sickly yellow color. The gash above her eye was also gone, but her black eye stubbornly stayed, only having faded a little bit.

"Wow, Star," Said Cyborg with an amazed voice, "You're healing at an extremal accelerated rate. . . this is amazing! Tamerainians must have something in there systems that allows them to heal faster then humans. This is . . . Wow! Look at this!"

He excitedly shoved several papers containing some of Starfire's charts into Robin's hands, and turned to face Starfire with a smile.

"If you would just let me run a few tests -"

Starfire cut him off. "No." she said.

"But Star, you don't understand! This could change medicine as we know it! If I can just figure out what's causing -"

Starfire cut him off again. Her usual cheery moral and happy smile were gone. Her eyes were serious, and she wore an almost angry looking frown.

"No." She said in a firm voice that was nothing like Starfire but somehow was filled with sadness.

"No tests."

"But they're really just simple, small tests, there's nothing to worry about. I can done them in under an fourty-eight hours, and they'd be completely -"

"I _said _that you _will not _be preforming any of these tests on me!" She said angrly.

And then she tore the targets that were attached to her forehead off with one smooth yank, jumped nimly off the examination table and left the room leaving a flabbergasted Robin and Cyborg behind.

**Targets are what they call those circuler thingys that go on your forehead right? I actually have no idea but I figured it was better then calling them the circley thingys. You know what I'm talking about right? If anyone actually has a name for these thingamajigs please tell me.**

**Sorry for the shortness. It was supposed to be longer, except I felt like you guys have been patient enough and needed a chapter. It would have been up sooner, but my computer didn't SAVE IT WHEN I ASKED IT TO :( so if you have any complaints, take them up with my computer. **

**_Also,_ keep an eye on my profile, a bunch of changes will be occuring to my stories. Some will get deleted, some will get make overs, some will have absolutly nothing happen to them, and a new story will be posted. This will all happen eventually. . . **


	39. Never Ever

It had been fifteen minutes. Fifteen long, agonizining minuites. That may seem like a insubordinate amount of time, but it really isn't. Imagine everything that could happen within a timespan of fifteen minutes! On single solitary quarter of an hour could change the entire world! Heck, it only took Trigon a mattter of seconds to take over the world.

I have been spending my last fifteen minutes pacing, again. It turns out that that is the exact amount of time it takes for me to go out of my mind crazy. I mean, Starfire had been hiding out in her room for fifteen minutes, who know what might have happened! If it had been up to me, I wouldn't have wasted this precious time. If Cyborg had let me do things my way, I'd probably know what had upset Star so much already, and things would be perfectly fine.

But _no_, Cyborg insisted I wait. Well, I had waited _an eternity_ of time, by now, hadn't I? I answered my own question with a confident yes.

Striding down the corridor with a grin on my face, I relized that I couldn't wait to see Starfire again. I was actually looking forward to holding her and wiping away any tears she may have, and you know, helping her calm down by means of a lenghy make out session. . . Oh, come on, who could blame me?

Anyway, my stupid grin got wiped off my stupid face when I stopped outside her door.

I could hear her crying, actually crying. I guess I didn't realize how serious the situation was till I heard her crying.

After debating with myself for a while, I just deliberatly walked in without knocking. My logic at the time was, if you don't knock, she can't refuse to let you in.

She sitting in the exact center of her circular bed, back to the door, front to the double set of windows set into the opposite wall.

He knew that she heard him enter, but she didn't say anything. His brow creasing slightly, he stepped inside, and closed the door behind him.

The room was dark. No lights were on. Tentivly he crossed the room to where she sat. She was curled into a ball, her arms wrapped securly around her knees. The covers were brought all the way up to her head, tucked neatly under her neck. Almost like a pink and fluffy version of Raven's cloak, it wrapped all the way around her entire body, front to back, with her head sticking out the top.

She was staring out the window, as if in a trance, though the sun had already set long ago and the only thing that could be seen was darkness and the occasional winking of a star.

Slowly, Robin crawled onto the bed next to her. All his anxities had disappeared, just being near her seemed to make everything right again. She was like a painkiller to him. His dark past, his time with Batman that hardened him, even his parenst being yanked from his life, none of it mattered, and everything just seemed to . . . fit. Even his nightmares had deserted his too - happy body, perhaps they had found someone gloomier to annoy.

He placed a hand on her shoulder, making small circles with his thumb.

He leaned in close to her ear. She could feel his hot breath on her face, but he didn't say anything, and neither did she.

Usually, Starfire would have leaned into his embrace, what was the warmth of blankets compared to the comfort of Robin's strong arms? But not today. Instead of leaning backwards into his waiting arms, she went to the other direction, falling forward, rather limply onto the bed.

Robin didn't give up so easily, though. He scooted foreward a bit on his knees, settling back once he had gotten closer to her. What he really wanted to do was gather her up into his arms and never let go. He hadn't forgotten about the time when it had been her comferting him, not to long ago. He wanted so badly to return the favor.

He was determined to see her cheerful smile, not matter how much she didn't want to. He acted as though she was made of glass, reaching down with careful hands, to smooth some hair out of her face. This did not fare much better then the first attempt. She shut her eyes tight, and cringed away, shrinking under his hand, moving away.

Robin frowned. Her attempts to thwart him only made him want to try that much harder, but he was afraid. He didn't want a giant fight to start over something stupid, and he most definatly didn't want this relationship to end.

He backed off, and sat back, sighing.

"Talk to me, Star," he asked, "please?"

She didn't say anything, just acted like he didn't exsist.

"Please, Star, please talk to me."

The only movement that indicated she was still alive was the slow rise and fall of her torso, as she breathed.

The clocked ticked on, but nothing happened. Robin's anxieties were slowly returning. He wanted to resolve this now, he couldn't stand not doing anything, it drove him insane, but he was afraid that if he pushed her any futher something would snap, and he didn't want to lose her, even if it was only for a while.

He decided to leave. If he left, he wouldn't be tempted to grab her and kiss sensless, or at least untill she smiled and things were alright again. Besides, maybe Cyborg was right, maybe what she really needed was some time alone, without him bothering her.

That thought hurt him like a knife in the heart, but he decided that he was going to be strong enough to give her what she needed.

He backed out of the room. Just as he was about to open the door, step into the hall and leave her in peace, she spoke up.

Her voice was barely audible and weighed down with hurt and sadness. It was so different from her usual light, airy, tone that was so filled with happiness.

"Don't leave me." She was desperate.

Despite the circumstanses, he couldn't stop the smile that wound onto his face. He was glad that she still wanted him.

He went over to her, and placed a hand on her face, cupping her cheek. Her eyes didn't open, and she hadn't moved, but a tear slipped out beneth her eyelid. He lovingly brushed it away.

"Never," he whispered back, into her ear. He laid beside her, but didn't touch her.

And eventually, they both fell asleep.

**Meh, I meant to make that longer, sorry. Next Chapter is most likely the last one. (dun dun dun) So yeah, keep checking my profile becuase when this story is done I'm going to changing a lot of stuff. Did I mention that before? I can't remember. **

**Review, pretty please.**


	40. Never Alone AKA The End!

When Starfire awoke, she knew only that she was not in her bed. She was warm, and quite comfortable, but not in her bed. She cracked her eyes open.

She was in Robin's arms. He was holding her bridal style on his lap, while he was sitting on her rocking chair in the corner. His eyes were closed, and his head rested back against the headrest, giving the appearance of sleep, but his arms were tight around her, and he was rocking gently so she knew he was awake.

Her head was was tucked into his neck. She breathed in deeply. He smelled good.

Robin could feel her eyelashes on his neck, and it alearted him to the fact that she was awake. He lifted his head to up look at her. She pulled back and gave him a questioning look.

"Sorry Star," he said grinning slightly, "but you were just laying there, and . . . I just wanted to hold you," he finished sheepishly.

"I do not mind," Starfire sighed, snuggling into his chest. Robin started to stroke her hair, while absent mindingly humming a soft tune.

"Starfire," he said softly, "Please, tell me what got you so upset the other day,"

"It was nothing, Robin," she said, doing a very good job acting nonchalant, closing her eyes gently and running her hands along his chest. Robin didn't miss a beat in his rocking.

"Please don't treat me like I'm an idiot, Star, I know something's wrong,"

Starfire was silent.

"Please tell me, "

Starfire didn't say anything, but she shook her head.

"Please, Star. You've helped me with my past, remember? I want to help you with yours. I know you're hurting, and it kills me. I - I just want to help you."

Starfire knew that once she told him, he might not like her anymore. She knew her friends might hate her. She knew she might be sent back to Tameran. But she also knew that Robin was not going to let the subject drop unless he got an answer.

Her first thought was to lie. But she dispelled that quickly, she had lied enough to her teammates.

She took a shuddering breath, and in a soft voice, began.

"When I was very young... My father... my planet..." She sighed.

"I apologize, it is difficult to find a place to begin. The reason I do not want Cyborg to preform these medical test, is because, I have had . . . tests preformed on me before."

"Starfire," Robin said, concerned, "what are you talking about?"

"I. . . when I was on Tamerain, my sister and I were captured by a brutal race called the Psions. Robin my starbolts are not native to my planet. I - then Psions, they are a race that likes to . . . experiment. "

Robin did not like the way this was going.

"They wanted to see . . ." Starfire continued "They wanted to see how much energy a Tamerainian body could hold before combusting. Robin, they strapped me to a table, and . . ." her voice became soft, yet bloated with the amount of pain it carried, "it was so painful. The only way I can think of describing it is being on fire, but that doesn't really compare."

She swallowed. "I could feel myself ... I was going to explode, and I knew it. I released a massive starbolt. Bigger then any you or the others have ever seen."

She raised her head to gaze at a shell shocked Robin. "Most of the Psions onboard the ship died. And I - I did not even care. I didn't even notice - I just saved Blackfire, and then we left, but not before destroying the equiptment for the experiment. Robin - I did not mean to kill them - I just - I -I'm sorry, I so just so afraid that if you found out . . ."

Robin hugged her closer to himself, and she lowered her head and started to sob into his shirt.

Robin knew that was only a fraction of the whole story. But that was Ok. He knew that eventually he would learn everything there was to know about Starfire and her past and her planet. They had the rest of their lives to talk about it, and she didn't have to share everything at once.

It made Robin's blood boil to know what those people had done to her. I hurt even worse that there was nothing he could do about it. If he thought he had gone overboard with Red X, they should see what he would do to those bastards who scared her so bad. But Starfire was speaking though her tears, stumbling over the words and this quickly captured his attention.

Her head was raised to look at him, Her piercing green eyes were penetrating him. It was so unlike her to have to struggle to find the right words.

"Robin, my - my greatest fear is to be alone. Abandoned. All the time I was - I have never had a real friend, and - when you yelled at me - I mean after I told you that I - I just - I flew away - and I was all alone - and Red X - he was there - and I. . .I'm sorry. I never should have . . ."

But Robin wasn't really paying attention. A sort of revelation was happening in his head. Was part of the reason Starfire had been with Red X his fault? Well, I mean, he had known that it had been his fault already, but she was simply afraid of being abandoned? Were the titans really the only family she had ever known? Robin suspected that no matter how many times he had tried to comfort her, he really had no idea of the full extent of hurt this ordeal - not to mention her still half mysterious past - had hurt her.

She was still talking when he silenced her with a kiss. They were already smushed together, but somehow Starifre found a way to pull him closer.

Breaking the kiss, Robin pulled backwards, to look at her. A tear was still running down her face. He brushed it away.

"You will not let Cyborg preform tests on me will you?" her eyes were shinning with unshed tears and worry.

"No, of course not," he said softly.

He leaned forward again, but this time to whisper in her ear.

"I promise you, Starfire," he whispered in her ear huskily, "I will never leave you. Ever." He grinned, "I'm afraid you're stuck with me."

Starfire returned the smile, "I do not mind," she said before reattaching their faces.

And do you know what?

He never did leave her.

The End.

(Really this time)

**Apologizes for the shortness, but it_ is_ the last chapter. **

**I want to give a HUGE THANKS to any who ever reviewed!! I couldn't have done this without you and all that good stuff. Thanks a bunch!! You rock! Give yourself a hug!!**

**Oh, and DON'T FORGET to keep checking my profile! Stuff is going to be happening!! (...eventually)  
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